Following The Main Event
by AliceJericho
Summary: It's hard being the child of a decorated Professional Wrestler. When that wrestler is still apart of the company you're in, no one ever believes you can do anything on your own. You have to find a way to break through. Cody Rhodes/OC *Set For Life series*
1. Introducing Sunday Hickenbottom

**a/n hey! So, this is Sunday's story! You're probably here because you read Laura's story and she will make a few appearances in this story, as will Keegan Calaway.**

**This is just an introductory chapter and I hope it was interesting enough to make you come back for more! Reviews, as always, are much appreciated!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or anything other than Sunday, Laura and Keegan.**

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><p><em><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>_

_**By AliceJericho**_

_**Chapter 1: Introducing Sunday Hickenbottom.**_

"_In real love you want the other person's good. In romantic love you want the other person." _– Margaret Chase Smith

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><p><em>January, Friday 17<em>

After nine weeks on the sidelines due to a scaphoid fracture in my left arm, the last person I expected to see standing in the hotel lobby upon my return was _Laura Hart_. I hadn't seen her in... What? Thirteen years?

I knew that _Bret _Hart was coming back to do a program with my dad and Vince, but what business does _Laura_ have being here? She _hated_ this business.

I looked as she spoke with her dad and Matt Korklan. That whiny voiced brat. I looked her up and down, the changes in her appearance were strange, but she was definitely Laura.

She must have felt me staring at her, because she turned to face me. I raised both my eyebrows at her, silently daring her to try something. She shook her head and turned her back to me.

She knew better than to mess with me.

"Hickie?" the _only_ person that could get away with calling me that is Kofi. "I didn't know you were back."

"Just got here like five minutes ago!" I hugged him one-armed, for I was still towing along my suitcase.

"Does Cody know? He didn't say anything." Kofi asked, referring to my boyfriend of nearly two years, Cody Runnels.

"It's a surprise!" I smirked, "Speaking of which, I need you to take Cody out for a bit, and try get his room key while you're at it."

"Why would I do that for you?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. I smacked his arm and he nodded, "I can do that. How long do you need?"

"An hour? I'll text you when I need him!"

"One problem," Kofi stopped me in my tracks, "How are you going to get the room key from me?"

"Is he rooming with anyone?"

"Yeah, Anthony."

"I'll get a key from him, and then tell him to hit the road." I smiled at Kofi who nodded and went off to find my boyfriend.

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><p>Once I was sure that Cody wasn't in the room, I knocked and smiled when Anthony Carelli (Santino Marella to the WWE Universe) opened the door. He took one look at me, and then stuck his head out the door, looking both ways.<p>

"You know," he said, minus the stupid Italian accent, "Cody left like five minutes ago."

"I know, with Kofi. I told him to take him out." I smiled at the man with a uni-brow, slightly disturbed that he had to have one. "In other words, he doesn't know I'm here, and I need your card and you need to find somewhere else to stay tonight." It all came out as one breath, "Please." I tacked on the end,

"You want me to leave?"

"It'd mean a lot to me... I haven't seen Cody in _so_ long." He finally understood what I was planning, and quickly gathered his things. "Thank you ,Tony." I said in a sickly sweet voice as I pulled my suitcase into the room and shut the door behind the former Intercontinental Champion.

I took a look around at the surprisingly clean room. They hadn't been here long. If they had... it would have looked like a bomb site.

I pulled what I needed out of my suitcase and then hid it under the bed.

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><p><em>Kofi! I need him back now!<em> I sent to Kofi, setting my phone in the draw of the bedside table. I placed my shoes in the passage near the door, letting him know that I was in the room, without actually revealing myself.

I fixed up my outfit, a black and white zebra patterned bra, with matching panties and a garter belt making sure my black mid-thigh stockings stayed in place. I pulled some of my blonde curls over my shoulder, and sat cross-legged on the bed.

My phone vibrated in the draw, but I didn't move to check it, assuming it was Kofi saying that Cody was on his way. I was right.

Less than five minutes later, the door opened and I heard Cody's heavy footsteps on the carpet. He chuckled,

"Anthony, I wasn't aware black heels were your thing!" he shouted out and walked further into the room.

The sexiest smile I could muster up was placed on my lips, and when he saw me, his jaw dropped. "Sunny..." he shook his head at the sight of me, "What the hell are you doing here? You ain't supposed to be here for another week."

"What a welcome." I said slyly as I stood from the bed, tiptoeing over to him, "It's great to see you too." I wrapped my arms around his neck and watched him smirk.

"It's been less than two weeks, and I missed you so much." He kissed me passionately, his tongue reaching the depths of my mouth.

"Show me how much." I pulled away, only to kiss him again.

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><p>Cody pulled me closer to his warm body. I rested my hand against his toned chest, revelling in the fact that I was again able to spend time with him.<p>

"You were supposed to come visit me last week." I stated, not really sure where I wanted the conversation to go.

"I know baby, I'm sorry. I had a fair few things to do." He kissed the top of my head, "I wanted to, I really did."

"I believe you." I kissed his left pec playfully, and felt him squirm slightly at the contact, "I missed you though." he probably smiled at me, but I didn't want to lift my head to look at him, but his arm tightened around my body, letting me know that he was listening.

"When did you get the cast off?" he questioned,

"Friday." I answered, "I have to be careful for awhile. And I might stay away from Hardy." I joked. I had fractured my wrist at Bragging Rights, when Matt Hardy ran into me and I fell without bracing myself properly.

"It took all I had not to punch him when I saw you crying. I almost broke kayfabe." I finally looked him in the eye, "Don't hurt yourself again, I don't think I'll be able to control myself."

After a few moments of comfortable silence, I spoke, "Cody?"

"Yeah?" I hesitated. I couldn't say it, how could I? It had been just under two years and not once had I said the words, nor had he, "Sunny?"

"Forget about it."


	2. Daddy's Little Girl

**a/n howdy! Here's chapter 2! I think I put up all of Sunday's details on my little website... But I don't know if it saved! Also, you should be able to see Laura's wedding dress which I failed to mention in the last chapter of **_**Last Unbroken Hart**_** =\ Thanks to **_**Sonib89, Showni13**_** and **_**AlexandraY2J**_** for reviewing and also to those people who alerted/faved! Remember, reviews can be anonymous!**

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><p><em><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>_

_**By AliceJericho**_

_**Chapter 2: Daddy's Little Girl**_

"_I have never been a material girl. My __father__ always told me never to love anything that cannot love you back.__"_ – Imelda Marcos

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><p><em>January, Saturday 16<em>

I slipped out of the hotel room quietly and noticed that Brie and Steph Garcia were doing the exact same thing. Brie turned to check the hallway and ran over to me when she saw me, pulling me into a hug almost instantly.

"Maryse still sleeping?" I asked, but the question was ignored. I already knew the answer, so it didn't really matter.

"Shawn didn't say that you were coming back so soon! We weren't expecting you back until at least next week!" Steph (Nikki Bella) joined the hug and the twins hugged me tightly.

"He doesn't know. I only got in yesterday and I spent the night with Cody. Kofi, Tony and you two are the only people who know that I-" I stopped speaking as I heard a hotel room door open. The three of us all turned around to see Eve Torres partaking in a walk of shame, running desperately across the hall.

"Isn't that Ted's room?" Brie asked her sister. I raised an eyebrow and kept my eyes on the half open door that Eve had just exited, "It can't be, though... Ted's married." The door soon closed without as much as a glimpse of the person's skin. "I'm probably going crazy."

"Ted wouldn't do that." Steph agreed, "Come on, we'll all go get some breakfast." They linked arms with me and we all walked to the elevator.

I turned around in attempt to catch the person who had skilfully avoided being seen, knowing that if it _was_ Ted then I'd have to confront him about it.

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><p>I think that I had seen everyone <em>but<em> my father by the end of the day. It's not like I hadn't been looking for Shawn – yes, I call him by his first name on occasion – or that he hadn't been looking for me, I'd just been catching up with my other friends. Brie, Steph and Maryse all wanted to head out for some shopping and then Victoria decided she wanted to go out to lunch with me. I'm hot property after being off the road for nine weeks, apparently.

Victoria and I parted ways when we returned to the hotel and I spotted my father across the lobby – he was speaking with Paul. Paul's an interesting character and very much like a father to me. There are, of course, the fans who like to take things too far and guess that Paul and I are in some sort of 'forbidden relationship'. Despite Cody and I being _very_ public about our relationship.

Paul spotted me first, pointing me out to my father and the two of them met me halfway across the foyer.

"Boots," dad's nickname for me made me smile, "Why did I have to hear from Miss Brie that you were back? Not even from Cody?" I laughed into my dad's shoulder.

"I honestly tried to find you!" I pulled away and let Paul pull me into a hug, "But Brie and Steph wanted to go to breakfast, then Maryse came down and we did some shopping and then Victoria took me out to lunch! I've been everywhere _but_ here!" I informed the men, "And yes, me being here is a huge surprise! I called in a favour with Vince and convinced him to let me rehab on the road!"

"I would have appreciated the call, Sunday."

"Yeah, I know. I'm a horrible daughter... But _surprise_!" I said innocently with a bright smile and I hugged him again, glad to be able to spend more time with him.

Most people would think that I'd be sick of spending so much time with the man, especially when he's my _father_, and that I wouldn't get any privacy with him being always around. It's quite the opposite, though. I'd been so used to having him with me that when I was away I was somewhat lost. The privacy thing wasn't an issue, dad knew his boundaries and I knew mine. We respected that we each had a private life to live and we kept out of each other's ways when possible. It's what you call compromise, something we had become _very_ skilled at over the years.

"Cody incoming." Paul covered his words with a lame cough and pretended he hadn't said anything. It's a Paul thing, explaining it would be near impossible. I turned around to watch my boyfriend walk through the lobby doors, flanked by Ted and Mike Mizanin. The latter two gave me a hug in hello before they continued to the elevators.

"Afternoon, Shawn." Cody shook dad's hand firmly, "I know you probably haven't had much time to catch up with her, but I was wondering if I could possibly steal Sunday tonight. I managed to get us a restaurant booking." Cody's arm moved around my shoulder and he gave me a squeeze, letting the world know that I was _his_.

"I'm sure she'd love that, Cody." I smiled at Shawn and nodded, "I will be able to catch up with her tomorrow. She'll be spending the day with me and Paul in the DX Express. Won't you, Boots?"

"Apparently," I laughed. The DX Express was full of wonderfully hilarious memories and it didn't bother me at all that I was going to be travelling with the overgrown children known as D-Generation X.

"I think I can go another day without her." Cody squeezed me to know that he was still going to be thinking of me. "We should probably go and get ready; it took me many phone calls to get these reservations." He then turned to Paul and said proudly, "Really fancy restaurant." Paul shook his head with a laugh at Cody's arrogance.

"You two enjoy yourself, then." Dad said as he pulled me away from Cody and kissed the top of my head, "Not too much, though. We have church tomorrow." He sent Cody a warning look.

"Of course, sir. She'll be up and ready for church, no doubt. I might even join you."

"You're always welcome, boy." They shook hands again before Cody and I walked to the elevators and proceeded back to our room.

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><p>"Christ, babe-" I cringed at myself for using Jesus' name in vain – well, not really in vain but in something unrelated to prayer or church. It's something I tried to avoid doing but was never very successful at stopping completely. "- how fancy is this place?"<p>

"Uh, not too fancy, I mean, we're in Knoxville." He laughed nervously, "but it's, uh, nice and everything."

"What do I wear, Cody? That's what I'm getting at." I smiled at his confused expression and kissed his cheek. He placed his hands on my bare waist and held me there for a second, just looking at me. "Cody, what do I wear?"

"What you're wearing now is fine." He kissed me playfully and I responded by pushing my hands through the hair at the back of his head. "Maybe what you're wearing is too much." I began to squirm when his hand moved up the strap of my bra, ready to unhook it.

"Mmmm, no. Cody. Stop." I tried to push him off but it took more than a little effort, "I have to get ready, babe. Stop it." I laughed as he sighed dramatically and pulled away. "How can you possibly want anymore sex?" I asked curiously, "You should be sick of it after last night."

"I'm never sick of sex. You know that." I nodded and rolled my eyes. I turned back to my suitcases and stared at the mass of clothes.

The door clicked open and Anthony walked in. He froze when he came into view, looking straight at me before continuing on with getting settled in the room as though I wasn't half naked. He'd seen me in my underwear enough times that neither of us were bothered by it – nor was Cody. Anthony is a happily married man with a five year old daughter, he wasn't getting any ideas.

"Do I have to find somewhere else to stay tonight? Because rooming with Kofi sucks." He said honestly, "The guy doesn't stop playing his stupid games."

"Nah, man." Cody answered as I finally found something to wear to dinner, "Church tomorrow morning. Have to be up early."

"Good. And no freaky or weird shit under the covers, alright? We've been through that and I don't need it happening again." My cheeks turned a bright, _bright_ shade of red as I remembered the time Cody and I were caught by Anthony in the dead of night doing 'naughty' things under the covers while he was in the next bed.

"I promise nothing is going to happen, Tony." I swore to him, before adding quietly, "Because that was _really_ embarrassing."

Cody and I weren't exactly _private_ about our sex life, but being caught is not something I ever like to think about.


	3. The Two Men In Her Life

**a/n keep in mind that my laptop is out of commission for the foreseeable future and I have hijacked the desktop to bring you this update... I hope you like it and thanks to those who reviewed! Shout outs next time! =D**

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><p><em><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>_

_**By AliceJericho**_

_**Chapter 3: The Two Men In Her Life**_

_"The most effective guard against delinquency is a father who is at the same time both strict and loving" _- Sheldon Glueck

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><p><em>Sunday, January 17<em>

"Babe, come on. You have to get up." I spoke quietly to Cody as I pushed his chest. I would have spoken much louder had Tony not been in the bed next to us. "Cody moved slightly but showed no further signs of waking up. "Cody, please." I sighed and smacked his chest one last time before getting off of the bed, "I'm going to shower. You better be awake and preferably dressed when I get out. You told my dad that you were coming to church, remember?" he groaned in response, "Your fault, not mine."

I opened my suitcase and pulled out the nicest and most modest clothes I had packed and then disappeared into the bathroom. Is tripped out of my underwear and fleetingly glanced in the mirror as I went to turn on the shower. The water was left running as I turned back to my reflection and poked my stomach. The door suddenly opened resulting in me jumping from my thoughts and hurriedly attempting to shield my naked body.

"Relax, it's just me." Cody chuckled, "You should probably have locked the door, though."

"I was just about to," I lied – it had actually never crossed my mind. I looked back in the mirror and grabbed a small piece of fat on my hips. Cody's hands covered mine; he stood behind me and put his chin on my shoulder. His eyes travelled to our hands.

"I was really slack during my time off... I'm not as fit as I was before." I mumbled. He kissed my bare shoulder and pushed me towards the running water of the shower. The hot water was causing the bathroom to become filled with steam. He reached out for the cold water tap and turned it, the steam suddenly disappearing.

"You're insane." He shook his head at me, "You have a great body, you always have and I don't see that changing any time soon." He pushed his boxers down his legs and I lost my train of thought.

The water hit us and I felt my body relax under the heat and water pressure.

"Cody," I moaned, trying to stop him from nipping at my neck, "Tony's still sleeping." My boyfriend dropped his forehead to rest on my shoulder knowing that I was not going to budge. "Next week we'll have our own room, okay?" I pulled his head up and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

As I was washing my hair I realised just how weak my wrist had become. I tried to squeeze the shampoo from the bottle but it was much harder than I ever remembered it bed. Cody took it from and an, like the gentleman he is, massaged it through my hair. I definitely felt pathetic for being unable to something so trivial as squeeze shampoo and conditioner from the bottles. I had been extra careful to avoid using my arm while it was in its cast because I didn't want to do anything that would delay my return to the ring. Obviously it had not worked as well as I had planned because I had to make up a serious lack of muscle.

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><p>"Are you two coming for breakfast?" Shawn asked as we exited the church. It was quite entertaining because the three of us had been recognised by some of the church-goers and the actual mass had to be delayed by ten minutes while the little kids calmed down.<p>

'Thanks but no thanks, sir. I'll leave you two to catch up." He kissed the side of my head and shook my father's hand. "Call me later okay?" I nodded and watched him leave. My father linked arms with me and we began to walk down the main street. I was thankful I had packed my big coat when the wind picked up considerably and brought a terrible chill with it.

We chose to eat our breakfast at to a small, family owned cafe that seemed to be far away from the city's hustle and bustle.

"Cam got big, dad." I smiled at him, "And unfortunately he looks more and more like you everyday."

"What do you mean 'unfortunately'?" he asked defensively, "He's lucky."

"Oh come on! Hat hairline is not something he wanted to inherit." His hand went to the top of his head as he pretended to be self conscious about it. "I spoke to Theresa, too." He looked up from the menu and silently told me to continue, "Her husband bought the farm I was telling you about. And the horses. She sounded really happy about it."

"That's good to hear. I'm glad she's finally getting what she wanted." Dad's tone was genuine and I was happy that my birth parents were at least civil with each other.

"She wanted to meet me for lunch last month. I'm still not ready for that yet, though."

"You can't avoid her forever, Boots. You're going have to speak to her about it. And forgive her."

"I have." I assured him, "She's forgiven. I just don't want _him_ to be there. And she'll do that. She'll bring him." I leant over the table and said in a panic, "He _scares_ me."

"Why haven't you spoken to her about it?" She needs to know." I shook my head and stared at the menu.

"I think I'll have the blueberry pancakes. I'll start eating well tomorrow." I smiled at the man across from me with my trademark crooked smile – my teeth don't match up perfect most of the time. He gave me one last worried look before we ordered our breakfast.

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><p>SundayMichaels: <em>Way too much coffee this morning! Good to be back on the DX Xpress. Green green + more green!<em>

I sent a quick tweet to the world of people who follow me online; it was my first since the removal of my cast. Immediately I was bombarded with replies from my fans, all of them asking similar questions.

SundayMichaels: _Not returning for a couple of weeks. Convinced Vinny to let me rehab on the road. Might be ringside. Maybe._

"You and your damned phone." Paul reached over and stole the iPhone from my hands, making me squeal and scream to have it back. "We're going to have a proper face-to-face conversation."

"About?" I asked as I dropped down onto one of the bus's leather couches and covered myself in pillows.

"You and Cody. Explain to me what you see in that kid, again." He smiled teasingly and I rolled my eyes. "He's a good kid, Sun. But not good enough for you."

"Well thank you. But we had this conversation at the beginning of the relationship." I reminded him with a reminiscent smile, "Cody's Cody. Not much to it. He's the perfect gentleman."

"And so he should be." Dad joined us, "With his pops being the American Dream I'd expect nothing less of the boy."

"You're expectations get higher and higher, Shawn. What happens when he can't live up to them?"

"Then he's not good enough for my baby." Paul let out a loud, sarcastic 'aww' as dad kissed my head.

"Can I call him now? I was supposed to when we left." I held my phone out to Paul who only gave it back to me after dad insisted.


	4. Vengeance

**a/n if I told you that I suck at updating, what would you say? That you agree? I know, I get it. School sucks and so does my laptop... All that matters is that I'm here now! All of my reviewers are amazing and I'm sorry for making **_EmmaJuliee, xHalosandwings_ **and **_cassiemanson_ **wait! And I guess everyone else who reads this story... You'd get a personalised apology if you reviewed... I allow anonymous reviews! =D**

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 4: A Day In The Life**

"_He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself."_ – Chinese Proverbs

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><p><em>Monday, January 18<em>

"She's not actually here, is she? Hitman's not on the card."

"You can't stand the guy yet you use a nickname."

"He's Bret _'The Hitman'_ Hart, the nickname comes with the person. And I can do what I want."

I was stretched out over the couch in Legacy's locker room. If the cameras were to come, there would be _a lot_ of explaining to do because of their feud, and my alliance with, DX. But the cameras weren't scheduled to be there at all during the show so I allowed my guard to be let down and myself to relax.

"Cody, you're needed at Gorilla in 10." One of the backstage runners – he was new, so I didn't know him – stuck his head into the locker room before leaving just as quickly.

"I'm so out of the loop. Are you winning?" I asked Cody who rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"We're going against Cena. What do you think?" I pouted at him, "I am the lucky one who gets pinned."

"Legacy's going to die soon, right? Then you'll be great and winning and..."

"They haven't got a character for me, Sun. I don't know what I'm doing after Legacy."

"Legacy isn't over until Wrestlemania. That's _plenty_ of time, Codes. We might even be able to convince Vince to put us together." I smiled hopefully at him but I knew that he wasn't going to bite. "Break a leg out there, alright?" I stood up to give him a good luck kiss before he left.

"Don't get into too much trouble back here." He managed to joke after we pulled apart from each other.

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><p>It was not a well known fact that if Cody Runnels lost a match he was going to be annoyed, angry or very sad for the rest of the evening. He knew that it came with the job description and he knew that winning every week just wasn't a possibility, but that didn't stop it from putting him in a terrible mood.<p>

"Cody, stop walking so fast." I mumbled as I trailed behind him. He had showered and changed, the show had ended and we were making our way out of the arena and to our rented car. "I know you're in one of your moods, but, really, slow down."

"One of my moods, Sun?" he turned around and we both stopped. "That's what you think this is?"

"That's because that's exactly what it is!" I said without hesitation, "Cody, it happens whenever you lose. All I'm asking is for you to walk a little slower." I stood beside him but faced the opposite way, hoping that this time he would keep in time with me. "Can we go now?"

"Yeah, little miss bossy pants." The smile was small but I was thankful it was there.

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><p><em>Tuesday, January 19<em>

The morning I saw Laura Hart hightail it out of Matt Korklan's hotel room. What were her rules again? Don't _become_ a wrestler. Don't date, marry or get knocked up by one.

I'm one hundred percent positive that she hadn't seen me watch her leave which was going to make it very interesting when I saw her again.

That time came about an hour later when she was sitting at a table in a cafe close to the hotel we were staying at. I walked straight over to her and sat down in the empty seat across from her and smiled at her.

"Yes, Sunday?" she asked as she took a sip of her coffee, "How can I help you?"

"I know something you don't want me to know." I put on my best innocent smile and wasn't shocked to see that she shook her head and responded with:

"What could you possibly know, Sunday? I haven't seen you in ten plus years." It was my turn to shake my head and correct her, reminding her that we had seen each other at the 2006 Hall of Fame. Fun night, that was. "Minor technicality. What do you have to say, Sunday? Spit it out."

"I saw you this morning." She was still looking at me like I was the scum of the earth, "Exiting Matt Korklan's hotel room at lightning speed... Talk about the walk of shame, same clothes as last night."

"You don't know _anything_." She scoffed at me. I sat back in the seat and stated proudly,

"But I can manipulate the truth." Shawn had always tried to tell me that it wasn't such a good thing, that it was going to get me into trouble. Oh well.

"Do you want daddy to find out, Laura? Bret won't be too happy to hear that his daughter is breaking one of his precious little rules."

"You wouldn't do that, Sunday." She tried to sound like she was stating a fact but I heard some uncertainty sneak through.

"You might want to be nice to me, Laura... Or I'll spread these rumours." I stood up and walked away after that. I could feel her glaring a hole in back but I wasn't going to turn around. Why would I turn around? I'd let her know that, even after so many years, I was still in charge.

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><p>When I saw my father and Paul next, the latter was quick to ask me what I had done. He saw me smiling – smirking, rather – proudly and I knew that dad wouldn't have noticed had Paul not said anything. Paul's the more observant one.<p>

"That's none of your business, Hunter."

"You haven't been messing with Laura, have you?" Paul may be most observant but dad was a great guesser.

"Not _messing_." No one said anything about it after that. Not because they thought it was appropriate but because both of them were sick of arguing with me after so many years of trying to get me to do the right thing. I'm not – nor was I ever – a _bad_ kid, I just had some trouble following explicit rules. I always put my own little twist on things.

"Are you coming with us to the gym tomorrow?"

"Sure, I'll get started on the dumbbells... Have to start small or I'll do some serious damage and I can't risk that, can I?"


	5. Jealousy

**a/n hey! I'm here! Sorry for the wait! Thanks to **_**EmmaJulie, xHalosandwings, cassiemanson**_** and **_**Neurotic-Idealist**_** for revewing last chapter!**

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 5: Jealousy**

"_Jealousy is all the fun you think they had." _– Erica Jong

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><p><em>Thursday, January 20<em>

"Where are you off to?" I was opening the hotel room door when Cody asked.

"The pool." I smiled and went to leave, eager to swim.

"By yourself and in winter?"

"Uh, no. I'm going with Kofi and it's indoors and heated." I informed him, moving towards him, "The hotel manager has blocked it off to everyone but WWE Employees. We're going to take advantage of it."

"Cool. Did you want me to come?"

"If you want to," I said as I looked at all the papers surrounding him on the bed, "but you should probably finish this – whatever 'this' is – first." I kissed his lips tenderly after I finished speaking.

"Yeah, probably." He laughed and tapped my ass as I walked away from him and towards the door. As I reached it, it was pushed open – evidently I hadn't closed it properly – and Kofi stood in the frame with a huge smile.

"Ready to go?" I nodded, "Hey, man. You comin' down?" Cody motioned to everythingng around him causing Kofi to laugh before we left and walked to the elevator. "Kelly might be coming down in a bit. I saw her walking to her room when I was on m way to you."

"Awesome. We haven't had a chance to catch up… I was too busy shopping."

"You spent too much money didn't you?" Kofi had noticed my guilty expression, "Are you ever going to learn? Every time I see you you tell me you spent too much money."

"I can't help it if shopping at Victoria's Secret is so much better in person than online." It was easy to tell that my African friend was trying his hardest to maintain the same expression. "Kofi, before you have a heart attack I should tell you that I didn't have a bikini and I'll be swimming in my underwear."

"Yeah, not helping." He said with a strained voice.

"Why are you so bothered by it? Tony often walks into rooms when I'm in my underwear – lots of people do. No one cares." I tried to pull open the door to the pull but I wrongly used my weak arm so Kofi had to help me.

"He's married."

"He should find it more awkward, then." I spoke before I realised what he actually meant. "Oh! You think… You're attracted to me?" the lack of response I got from him confirmed my suspicions.

The only sounds that could be heard for the next few minutes were the hot water being pumped into the pool and the jets of the spa.

I shimmied out of my jeans and pulled my top over my head revealing a plain black Victoria's Secret underwear set.

Kofi was standing at the pool's edge, testing the water with his foot so I decided to push him in. His splash broke the silence and the tension.

I jumped in after him, tucking my knees up to my chin so I was a ball, creating a huge splash, too. I broke the surface with a spluttering cough before going back under to easily push my hair out of my face.

"The water's so warm!" I exclaimed with delight.

"Some kid probably peed in it."

"Ew! Kofi! That's digusting!" I splashed him with water in protest of his words.

Fifteen minutes passed and I'd spent that time doing laps of the pool. I didn't use my legs to kick; instead I focused on strengthening my arm. It was going to take quite some time.

"Stop for a sec, Hick." Kofi had taken hold of my ankle and stopped me swimming, "You aren't going to tell Cody… Are you?"

"I can't imagine he'd be _too_ bothered… I'm a Diva, most guys are attracted to me."

"You're my best friend's girlfriend…"

"I won't say anything, Kofi. I promise." I smiled reassuringly just as Barbie Blank opened the doors to the pool room. "Blondie!"

"Blondie!" she yelled back as she began to strip off her clothing. "Sunday, are you wearing your underwear?"

"It's the middle of winter, how was I supposed to know I'd need a bathing suit?"

"You didn't buy that on the weekend, did you?"

"Why would I ruin perfectly good, sexy underwear before Cody's seen it?" I asked in a way that sounded like I'd just been insulted.

"Can't you just wash it and wear it again?" Kofi asked with a confused expression.

"God no! You're such a guy! Chlorine ruins everything! Including swimwear! This is going in the bin when we're out."

"That's nuts. Girls are nuts."

"But we're stunning," Barbie, who was sitting on the edge of the pool letting her legs get used to the water, remarked, "So it doesn't matter."

Kofi rolled his eyes at her as she finally slipped into the water. It was kind of mesmerising watching her long, thin body slide through the water, her blonde hair looking perfect. I wondered if I looked like that, granted my hair isn't as long as hers is.

"Room for one more in here?" Cody was smiling down at me with his board shorts on and towel in hand. I rushed to get out of the pool and almost slipped when I ran to him – I could have broken my arm again but it hardly matters now. "You really need to be careful, Sunny."

"I know. I just get really excited when I see you." I pressed my wet body against his dry one. He pulled me closer by putting his hands on my hips as he kissed me with a smile.

The next thing I knew, we were moving apart and towards the water, eventually hitting it and going under.

Cody emerged first and he was jokingly scolding Kofi and Barbie. He turned to me once he had finished and looked at me quizzically.

"Are you wearing your underwear?" I smiled at him mischievously, "You wore that when we went out to dinner last week."

"Aren't you observant?" I laughed at him. Kofi and Barbie were pulling faces at us as they used the stairs to re-enter the pool.

"Everyone knows those who can't stand the sight of a couple are just jealous and lonely." Cody's words seemed to hit Kofi the hardest and I buried my face in my boyfriend's chest so I wouldn't have to see his reaction.

* * *

><p>Barbie and her big mouth had told quite a few people that the pool was open so by mid-afternoon just about every Superstar and Diva was in or sitting around the pool.<p>

Kofi, Barbie, Maryse, Mike, Ted, Cody and I were all in the spa. I couldn't look at Ted without judging him. It was probably nothing. But is coming out of a female co-worker's hotel room in the same clothes as the night before probably nothing? It didn't really help that Eve was sitting at the end of the pool opposite us and Ted was looking _directly_ at her.

"'Ave you started rehab yet, Sunday?"

"That's kind of been the last thing on my mind, 'Ryse. It's not very smart of me... But I'm just so happy to be back."

"You really should start. I know 'ow bad your wrist is."

"I know, it's terrible. I'm so jealous of you guys, you still get to wrestle! I'm going to have to fix this fast!"

Cody squeezed my thigh in support; I was going to need _everyone's_ help... But Cody's was the most important.


	6. His Family

**a/n yeah, I do suck but it's getting to crunch time at school and I had to do a couple of French oral presentations they're my worst nightmare and I managed to make myself sick… So I'm trying to avoid going back to hospital by keeping my stress levels low… And unfortunately that means not worrying about fanfiction… I hope you can forgive me!**

* * *

><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 6: His Family**

_"Love will never do what you want it to." _Tom Jones – It's Not Unusual.

* * *

><p><em>Saturday, January 30<em>

"It's wonderful to see you again, Sunday dear."

"You too, Michelle! It's been way too long." I embraced Cody's mother like she was the one I always wished to have. "Thank you for having me for dinner."

"Nonsense! You are always welcome in this house!" I was grateful for it, too. I had always adored the Runnels house, even as a teenager.

Dusty, being the 'comman man' he portrayed in the ring, was set on having a small_ish_ house. Four bedrooms – one for him and Michelle, one for each of his kids – three bathrooms, kitchen and dining, living room, two car garage and a reasonably sized backyard. Once all of the Runnels children had moved out, two of the three rooms had been converted – Kristen's became a study and Codu's was turned into a rec room – with Dustin's being the only room to remain as one for sleeping as a refurbished guest room.

"How is your arm? Cody said it wasn't healing as well as it should have."

"It's my body. It's not too good at the healing process. It's getting better, though. I can make a semi decent fist now." I showed my progress to her and she covered my hand with both of hers.

"That's wonderful! We're all pulling for you to make a recovery very soon! We want you on the television again!"

"Stop badgering her, mum. She gets enough of that on the road." Cody walked into the kitchen and snaked his hand around my waist, his hand resting on my hip. Michelle patted my hand before letting it go.

"Sorry, dear." She apologised to me. "Cody always sounds so worried on the phone. I just needed to make sure he wasn't being melodramatic."

"Thanks mum." Cody said sarcastically.

"It only means you love her. Don't be embarrassed. Go set the table would you? Make yourself useful." Her words hurt me. _Love_. She could tell me that Cody loved me but he couldn't say it himself.

At dinner there were six of us at the table – Dusty, Michelle, Dustin, Kristin, Cody and myself. Conversation was, as always, centred on the professional wrestling business. There was always something happening in regards to the business.

I felt Cody's hand come into contact with thigh. My face remained the same though I was definitely close to giving us away. His hand brushed the edge of my dress and slightly pushed it up…

"Cody."

"Yeah, dad?"

"Hands where I can see 'em." Slowly Cody ran his hand down my thigh before bring it to rest atop the table. Kristin began laughing behind her hand. Cody glared at her.

Dusty was a good man. A family man. An honest man. He was everything most people wanted in a father. I had Shawn, though. And I love him more than anyone could ever imagine. He definitely wasn't a conventional father or a 'good' in most people's sense but he taught me a lot of things. Mostly what _not_ to do.

* * *

><p>Cody and I had been assigned the guest room seeing as Kristin lived not too far away and Dustin offered to sleep on the futon. As we lay in the bed, both staring at the ceiling, Cody's hand began to venture up my leg just as it had done at the dinner table.<p>

"What are you doing?" I whispered as I turned slightly to look at him. A smirk graced his face as he continued to move his hand. "We can't do this here." I placed mine atop his and made him stop.

"We do it everywhere else." He reminded me and I made a face at him.

"Everywhere else is not in your parents' house." He smirked again and leant over to kiss me. "Cody, I'm serious." That didn't stop him though.

"Sunny, we've done it with your father in the next hotel room. My parents are down the other end of the house." He started to kiss my neck and I had to bite back a moan. "See, you want it just as much as I do."

"I always do." I admitted quietly, "Not tonight, Cody." I pushed him away and he rolled onto his back, sighing in annoyance. "Don't you dare put that face on," I poked at his frown, "I hate that face."

He relaxed soon after and settled for cuddling instead.

"I need to talk to you about Ted." I said hesitantly.

"That's exactly what I want to hear when I'm laying in bed with my girlfriend."

"No, Cody… I think he's having an affair." Cody's finger stopped moving. It had been slowly running up and down my arm, but at my comment it stopped completely.

"That's a fuckin' big thing to accuse someone of." His tone was more serious than it had been in a long time. Probably because I had just accused his best friend of having an affair.

"I saw Eve do the walk of shame out of his hotel room."

"Maybe she fell just fell asleep…"

"From what I remember, they barely even talk to each other… Why would they be having late night conversations?"

"Exactly! They barely even talk to each other." Cody argued and I sighed. "He's not cheating on his wife."

"I'm just telling you what I saw, Cody… I think you should at least talk to him in case it is true and he gets himself caught by someone who isn't me. Not everyone will be as quiet about this."

"Who else knows?"

"Uh, Brie and Steph, they were with me when she left his room." He sighed and told me that I had to keep my mouth shut until he found out the truth. And if it was true, I _definitely_ wasn't allowed to tell anyone.

Sleep didn't come easily that night, what with _love _and _Theodore_ on my mind – completely unrelated, by the way – so I spent most of the night staring at the wall drawing up conclusions of what Ted could possibly have been doing. An affair seemed like the only logical conclusion.


	7. Royal Rumble

**a/n Hi. I don't know if you remember me but I write fanfiction. It's been **_**two**_** months and I know people make you wait longer but I'm really sorry. I warned you though so you can't be too mad at me. Also, France was brilliant. The end. Many, many thanks to **_**xHalosandWings**_**, **_**(Anonymous)**_** and **_**Neurotic-Idealist **_**for being so kind.**

* * *

><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 7: Royal Rumble**

* * *

><p><em>Sunday, January 31.<em>

"Lucky your parents live in Georgia."

"That's why we stayed there." Cody said with his mouth full.

"Are you ready for tonight?"

"Not much to be ready for."

"You're interfering in the title match. And you're in the Rumble. You need to be ready." I said as I bit into a piece of toast.

"I'm ready, Sun. Really."

"Are you angry at me for saying that Ted is cheating on Kristin?" he drank from his cup of coffee and didn't answer my question. I sighed and continued to eat my breakfast.

Minutes passed and the two of us were in complete silence, the sound of the television in the other room was the only thing keeping me from screaming.

"Is everything okay in here? You're awfully quiet." Michelle commented as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Yeah, Ma. Just trying to get into the right headspace."

"Of course you are. We don't want any more injuries, do we?" she winked at me and I managed a small laugh. "Are you going to make an appearance, Sunday, dear?"

"It hasn't been decided yet, but I might walk dad to the ring… But I think Vinny wants to make my return a bit more special."

"You're not going out there." Cody told me quietly, "You might get hurt again." _Now he cares_. "Just wait until you're stronger. Please."

"I suppose that's a good idea." I consented, "Try and stay away from Matt Hardy, I guess." He nodded at me and I turned to Michelle who was also nodding. "Keegan's the special guest referee for the dark match, right?" I asked Cody.

"Yeah, she's not happy about it either. She's one of the best on the roster and she's _refereeing_ the _dark match_. The scream was heard by everyone." I had to laugh at that. Keegan Calaway has the potential to be a real big _Diva_. Then again, so could I.

"I guess I understand. I mean, at least I can go watch my Dad… But if Starr accompanied Taker, that would be a serious blow to kayfabe."

"You're the total opposite of Cody here," Michelle said, "He wants as far away from his father as he can get." She laughed as Cody rolled his eyes.

"It's different, Ma." She asked him to explain and he swallowed what he was chewing before continuing, "The girls don't have the same expectations on them. They can be seen with their fathers and people don't expect them to become that legendary."

"So you're saying that we can never reach legendary status? Um, Trish, Lita, Mae Young, Molly Holly, Moolah-"

"If you'd let me _finish_, Sunny." He snapped at me, "There is _no_ doubt that you can reach that status but it's not immediately expected of you. Sure, people assume that you're going to be a great wrestler but when you get _so good_ that you have reached Moolah status people don't just say it's because you're the daughter of a great. You _can't_ be your father because you are a _female_. For me, Ted and Randy… We have to pave our own way or we're forever going to be in the shadows of our dads and that's the only reason we'll be great. I don't _want_ to be known as Dusty's son."

"Like I want to be _HBK's daughter_. I want to be _Sunday_." I snapped back at him.

"Alright you two. Calm down." I took a deep breath and pushed my chair backwards, "I'm going to take a shower."

"Sunny..." Cody's voice trailed off as I turned the corner into the hall and walked to his room.

I collected some clean clothes and quickly ducked into the bathroom.  
>I could hear the dishwasher being packed in the kitchen and some quiet voices belonging to Cody, Michelle and Dusty. The running water couldn't drown them out. I had to try extra hard to get the last of the conditioner out of the bottle, wondering how I had managed to screw up my arm so much. Eventually I gave up and used my other arm, growing increasingly frustrated with myself.<p>

"Sun?" Cody's voiced broke through my thoughts from the other side of the door. "You alright in there?"

"Fine."

"Can I come in?"

"'S your house." I answered and the door creaked slightly as it opened.

"You misunderstood what I was trying to say." he said as he walked dowager the shower before leaning against the wall adjacent to it, "It sounded a lot worse that it was supposed to."

"No, I get it. Sorry. You were making me angry this morning and I needed an outlet." he nodded in understanding. I watched his eyes travel shamelessly down my wet, naked body before they slowly met mine again.

"You're beautiful, Sun. Have I told you that?" I smiled and gave a small nod. "I'll never stop telling you that." I opened my mouth to retort but he spoke again before I could, "It'll never stop being true."

"You just want to get in here with me." the smirk that graced his face let me know I was right in my assumption. In less than thirty seconds he had removed his pyjamas and was opening the door to join me. "What time is it?"

"It's just gone eight. I have to be at the arena before eleven." I kissed his lips softly. "Plenty of time to be with you."

"You're a suck up." he murmured an honest 'yep' against my forehead and I held him as close as I could.

* * *

><p>"I don't care what happens, Sun; you have to stay back here. I don't want you hurting yourself anymore."<p>

"Yeah dad, I had this conversation with Cody this morning." I smiled at my old man, "I don't want you hurting yourself either, okay? You're not as young as you used to be. The bones are getting a bit more brittle." I poke his shoulder with a condescending look on my face. He took my hand in his and pushed it back in my direction.

"Very funny _Iva_."

"Hey now! There's no need for _that_, _Michael_." I scoffed incredulously before smiling at him, "You may be aging and have a receding hairline but you're still the best there is. Bret Hart ain't got _nothing_ on you." I was pulled into a tight hug. "You're going to kill it tonight. I said a prayer for you."

"Want to know who's winning?" I nodded eagerly at his question. "You'll have to wait and see like everything." I pulled away from him and glared at him.

"You, sir, are a horrible father." I put on my thinking face and spoke wisely, "I am predicting a CM Punk win. Possibly McIntyre. But it would not surprise me if Jericho were to be the last man standing."

"I can't win? Not even Hunter?" Dad asked with a horrified face, "You're _my_ daughter."

"Yes, but if you win then everyone knows Taker will be champion at WM and you'll fight him and how is that exciting?" I explained to him with animated hand movements, "And as for _Hunter_, if _he_ wins the crowd will riot and complain that he's already won it three hundred times and doesn't need it again. And I love John with all my heart, but if he wins the crowd will _actually_ riot and I'm not healthy enough for that." I referred to John Cena's love-hate relationship with the WWE Universe.

As dad left to warm up, I sat at a table in catering, watching the Superstars and Divas hydrate themselves and eat their last meal before they went out in front of the thousands of fans. I saw Keegan Calaway walking around fuming due to her position on the card. The other Divas looked pleased to at least be getting a match. I can't imagine that it would last very long – they never did anymore – but at least they had a spot. Sort of.

"Why you sitting by yourself for, Hickie?" Kofi's voice and a screeching chair made me turn my head to the left, focusing on the African superstar instead of the Divas. He was carrying a tray of food.

"Everyone's getting ready," I told him. "You should be, too."

"I still have time. I haven't eaten yet." He told me as he put the tray on the table and sat down. "Don't tell me I'll get a stitch. I just got that from Matt."

"Korklan? Weird kid." I said it instantly.

"He's my friend, Hickie."

"Yeah? You're weird, too. Perfect for each other you are." I shrugged with a sly smile.

"I think his heart belongs to Laura, so I'm out of luck." He pouted and I placed my hand over my heart, playing along.

"The _nerve_!" I scoffed incredulously and he rolled his eyes. So I poked my tongue out at him, "You started it."

Our conversation turned to me begging him to tell me who was winning the Rumble but he's as stubborn as everyone else so I got no answer. It was cut short, however, when a runner came up and told him that he really needed to start getting stretched. Apparently spots were in order. Why wouldn't they be, though? Spots are Vince's favourite things. After Cena.

* * *

><p>"And there goes Cody…" I sighed as I watched my boyfriend get thrown from the ring by Triple H.<p>

"I take it you don't know who's winning."

"Not a damn clue." I looked at Keegan for a split second. She had changed from her referee's outfit but her blue streaks and that star over her eye remained. "I guess you do?"

"Of course I do." She winked at me with her uncovered eye. We shared a bond due to the legends of our fathers, "Who do you think it's going to be?"

"Punk. Maybe McIntyre because he's the Chosen One and all… But I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want Jericho to come out on top." She laughed at me and I knew what question was coming next.

"What about Shawn?"

"He can't win. His win would be too predictable and then Taker is basically guaranteed to hold the title at Mania. This, HBK loses but Taker's already one… Who gets the title between now and then? Suspense, it's good for business." My accompanying shrug made her roll her eyes and shake her head.

"I'd make a remark about how I've been in this business longer than you-" I raised my eyebrow, "-Or at least _my _dad has been in it longer than _your_ dad… But we're pretty much tied."

"The fathers may be tied, but I am older than you." I told her pointedly and she laughed at me.

"I've technically had a job in this company since I was fourteen." I laughed in her face sarcastically.

"Oh, Ted's gone, too. Not a good night for Legacy." I commented but smiled at the same time, "Dad's on a roll. Maybe I was wrong."

What felt like many minutes later, I was staring at the screen with an open mouth. Keegan, Cody, Kofi and Paul were all smiling knowingly at me. Of course there were _rumours_ but I'd been such a recluse backstage that I had no idea what was actually happening.

"That's Edge!" I shouted happily as I rose to my feet, "_He's going to win_. It's not going to be _Dave or John_. IT WILL BE EDGE!" I was jumping around in elation as I realised I had finally worked out the puzzle.

So the excitement was a little too much considering he wasn't a _close _friend, but I was just happy I knew who was winning.

"She wouldn't get this excited if _I_ was winning." Cody commented and I turned to him with a pout. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" I asked as I continued to pout but also walking closer towards him.

"_That_. Sunday, stop it." He was looking at me with serious eyes but I kept moving closer. "There are _people_ here."

"And?" I whispered when I finally reached him. I kissed him softly on the lips. Once. Twice. Three times. Before I pulled away with the world's best poker face. Only showing emotion again when Edge came out victorious.


	8. Back Again

**a/n: yeah, you know… Uh, I haven't watched wrestling in ages because my Foxtel has been disconnected and I'm now in Year 12 and I hate it… Look, I hope to be back and update more… I can't make promises because I might break them…**

* * *

><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 8: Back Again**

_"You never find yourself until you face the truth." – Pearl Bailey_

* * *

><p><em>Monday, February 1<em>

"Hey, Doc." I smiled weakly at the physician sitting before him.

"How are you doing, Iva?" he asked and I cringed at the use of my first name.

"Sunday, _please_. And, I'm not sure. I mean, I'm _better_. Definitely better. But better isn't great."

"Let me take a look at your hand." I held it out to him and he began poking around my wrist. The pressure he was placing on it was barely bothering me. Until he tried to bend it.

"Yeah, ow!" I pulled my hand away as fast as I could. "I said it was _better_. I didn't say you could make me a contortionist."

"I needed to know the capabilities of the hand, Sunday." He told me but I shook my head.

"There's obviously something wrong. I can't even squeeze shampoo out of a bottle." I snapped at him angrily, "I just need you to figure out what's going on. I _need_ to get back into a ring."

"Sunday, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. Your arm should be healed enough to do physio by now. If the best case scenario had happened, I would have told you that in two weeks you would be back in the ring… I'm afraid that maybe the fracture was worse than the doctor's first thought. I suggest you go back home and get another x-ray to see how it's healed."

"I don't want to go back home." Sunday said with an exasperated sigh, "I just spent _six weeks_ at home. I almost went stir crazy! Do you know what happens to people like us? We spend so much time on the road doing what we _love_ that when you take it away for more than four days at a time… We go insane. I hate being this close to a ring without being allowed in it."

"I've heard it enough times from the other wrestlers. I know it's hard, Sunday… If you go back and get checked out once more, it'll be one step closer to wrestling again." The physician told me with a warm smile.

"Can I at least go out there?" I asked with an eager tone.

"I'm sorry. I don't feel that you're strong enough to be out there just yet."

"You do realise that my father is about to embark on the end of his career, right? That this is the end? And I should be there. The whole way. You _do_ understand just how important this is, don't you?"

"You'll have to support him from the back." I gasped at him. He turned away on his wheeled chair and pushed himself over to his little desk. "I'll be informing everyone who has a say in booking that you are _not_ to be included in anything on the floor, or any backstage altercations."

"I'm going to have absolutely no fun for the rest of forever."

"If you don't take care of that arm, that will be the truth." The physician told me seriously and I scoffed, shaking my head.

"I'm going to get you fired." I muttered bitterly, "You can't just tell me to spend more time away from the ring."

"I just have." He said back without hesitation. I huffed childishly at him, standing up and almost stomping my feet. I wasn't going to throw a tantrum in his presence.

* * *

><p>"I'm going to sue him."<p>

"Good luck with that." Victoria said with a small laugh.

"He can't tell me that! I've been away for longer than is humanly possible already!"

"You aren't the only person to ever be _injured_." I looked at her with a slight scowl, "I'm just saying!"

I said I wasn't going to throw a tantrum _in his presence_. I had since moved to the Divas' locker room and started to complain in there.

"_Honestly_, Sunday!" Beth scolded me, "Just go get it fixed. The longer you wait the worse it'll get and the harder it'll get to come back. I know it's hard, believe me. But you have to take the initiative. Do the smart thing."

I stared at my feet. Of course she was right. She'd been injured before, far worse than a fractured wrist, too… "Sorry."

"Go back home on the first flight you can get, go to the doctor and see what he can do." Beth patted me on the shoulder as she walked out of the room and I continued to stare at my feet, embarrassed by my actions.

"You've got all of us who you can talk to… And we're not even going to care because we'll probably fall asleep on the phone." Victoria smiled at me and I managed to smile back. "There you go." I pulled her into a tight hug that lasted a couple of minutes. "Go talk to Shawn, okay? He'll help you out. And then Cody can make you feel better." She winked at me as I pulled away and I winked back at her, showing her that I was in no way embarrassed by the connotations of her suggestion. I was sleeping with Cody Runnels, what's there to be embarrassed about?

I exited the room with more of a spring in my step but I still wasn't the happiest girl in the world. I stood outside the male locker room and banged on the door loudly. No one opened it. So did it again, even louder. Still no answer. I did it again and thought I was going to put a hole in the wood.

"What?" I took a step back as Kofi burst from the room. I looked him up and down with a furrowed brow.

"Angry much?"

"You're a pain in the ass!" he told me, "It's a wonder you didn't break the door."

"What the fuck's up your ass?" I asked him angrily, "You're winning tonight, aren't you? Going into the Chamber? I just got told I have to _go back home_. Laura Hart's around here somewhere. And Cody's losing tonight. Cody always ends up in a foul mood when he loses."

"That's why I'm in a shit mood." Kofi told me, opening the door more so I could see inside the room. I saw Matt Korklan throwing things around the locker room angrily.

"What the fuck's his problem?"

"Laura Hart." Kofi told me with a grim smile, "Dave was being Dave." I sighed at Kofi.

"He's a perve." I said simply. "Tell him to go get something to eat and rest a bit. He's going to get squats. Lots of them." Matt looked at me and I shrugged at him. "I'm not kidding." I cracked a smile. "Have you seen the boyfriend? I want to speak to him before his match."

* * *

><p>Later that evening I was on the couch of DX's change room. I was sitting with Cody on the couch as he tickled my sides, making me laugh, talking to John Cena at the same time. Matt Korklan was in the room, using the large space to do squats – just as I had predicted. Paul was beside him, doing the exact same.<p>

At around the two hundred squat mark, Laura Hart came into the room. She looked around and asked with a nervous laugh,

"Paul, why does it look like the Hart Dungeon in here?"

"Straight from the books of Chris Benoit." Paul answered, his voice not even slightly strained.

"Which is where he got it from." I watched the exchange with some jealously. How was it that she could come back after so long and fit in so well? Have things just fall back into place? "I need to speak to you Paul, please." She said after a slight pause. I stared at her with a blank face. I understand that what Dave did was probably deserving of Korklan's retaliation but Korklan should know better than to disrespect anyone in the company… He was at least _somewhat_ deserving of the punishment.

"Is it important?" Paul asked and Laura nodded, smiling at Matt. "John, take over. Two hundred and thirty five." He didn't stop until John had started the squats. They left the room and closed the door behind them. I turned around to look at Cody's face but he was just as confused as I was.

"What did ya do man? You should know better than to say anything to Dave, you've always been a good kid." John was speaking to Matt and I tried my best to act like I wasn't listening, but the room was quite small and there wasn't much else to do.

"It doesn't matter. I did the wrong thing." I respected Matt for that. He was taking his punishment like a man; he wasn't trying to get out of it with petty excuses.

"Whatever it is, you better hope that Laura is getting you out of it, or you won't be moving for three days. But you'll have to do five hundred more tomorrow." I laughed involuntarily as Cody zapped my sides. Not that John and Matt don't already think I'm a bitch.

Paul and Laura came back into the room a little while later. Laura stayed in the door.

"How many have you done?" Paul asked, swapping places with John.

"Four seventy-five."

"Make it twenty five more." I stood up as Paul spoke, "I want to get back."

"Uh, **_no_. **He was disrespectful! One thousand!"

"Sunday! I'll give you a thousand if you keep talking." He shouted at me and I stared at him for thirty seconds before leaving the room in a rush. I sat on a crate around the corner and ran my good hand through my hair.

"What was that?" Cody sat down beside me, rubbing my thigh.

"What part? The running off or the saying that Short Stuff should do one thousand?" I asked him quietly.

"Both." He laughed quietly, "I know you've had a rough day, Sun…"

"But I shouldn't take it out on other people, I know." I looked at him and sighed, "I'm just sick of Laura coming back and acting like she never left. She still has everyone wrapped around her little finger and it just makes me angry. She gets her own way _all of the time_."

"Reminds me of someone else I know. She's blonde, got blue eyes and this cute little winged heart tattooed on the back of her neck…" he moved the hair from the back of my neck and ran his finger over the tattoo, "She's crazy patriotic and a hell of a wrestler, too."

"I don't get my own way." He laughed loudly. "Fine. Maybe I do. I just don't like it when she does."

"This is what happens when you were an only child for fourteen years." He poked my sides again.

"No," I shook my head, disagreeing with him. "That's what happens when for those fourteen years the only way to get your father's attention was to make him feel I was replacing him with everyone else backstage."


	9. Her Family

**Following The Main Event;**

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 9: Her Family**

_"Here's kind of my motto - if you're not happy at home, you're not happy anywhere else." – Angie Harmon_

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><p><em>Thursday, February 4<em>

"Dinner's on, Sunday. It should be about half an hour." I lifted my head from my laptop and smiled at my step-mother.

"Thanks, Becca." I closed the lid and swung my legs over the bed, but before I could push myself up, Rebecca sat beside me. "Can I help you?"

"I was just wondering how you're doing, Sunday." She says kindly and I can't help but smile.

"I'm fine." I answered, "I'd much prefer to be out on the road but that's not on the cards right now." I useed my right arm to push myself off the bed and offered the same arm to my step-mother to help her off the bed.

"I spoke to the doctor the other day, Sunday."

"Are _you_ okay?" I ask hered, suddenly very afraid.

"Yes, I'm fine. It was about scaphoid fractures." I unconsciously looked down at my left wrist and rotated it slightly. "They can take up to twelve months to heal properly."

"I've been told."

"And it's quite common for the bone to never heal."

"I know, Bec." I sighed, "I just need to be optimistic about this. Dad's told me, Cody's told me, the physician told me."

"You're stubborn just like you're father." She said to me and I laughed. "His back _and_ his knee."

"Don't talk to me about the knee," I laughed sadly, "If I even think about him losing his smile I start to cry. I've been doing all the exercises I've been told but I physically cannot do it."

"You've come to terms with the fact that you'll need surgery?" I stopped in the door and turned around to face her, nodding as I did so.

"Yeah, I have. A few pins in my wrist is the only thing that's going to help. I'm just lucky it didn't cut off the blood flow."

She put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it to show that she was there to support me. As we reached the dinner table, I saw Cameron and Cheyenne waiting patiently for their meals. I kissed the tops of their heads before I sat down.

Rebecca began to cut up Cheyenne's meal and I felt pretty pathetic when I had to ask her if she could cut mine – Cheyenne is five years old and I'm turning 24 next month – though she did so without any questions or objections.

* * *

><p>"I'm going to see the doctor tomorrow. We're going to talk about surgery."<p>

"I'm glad. I just want you to get better."

"I hate being here. It's boring, there's nothing to do."

"Football game?"

"God no," I cringed at the blasphemy, "Only when I'm with Dad."

"I'd say fly out and be here with me…"

"But I'm not allowed. I know. I miss you already." I said sadly into my phone. "I don't care what anyone says, I'm flying to you for Valentine's Day."

"Iowa, how romantic." Cody laughed, "I'll see what I can come up with."

"I'm looking right now," I told him, smiling to myself. "How about a day at the zoo?"

"It's going to be near freezing… But anything for you." The tone of his voice made me melt as it so often did. "I have to go; I'm going on in 20 minutes."

"Oh, you're being awfully rebellious. No phones half an hour before a match." I managed a light giggle as I stared up at the ceiling, imagining what he looked like at that moment.

"It's what you do to me, Sun. I become rebel with only one cause."

"Ha." I said sarcastically, "I'll let you go before you get into trouble. Don't go forgetting about me."

"Never, darlin'."

* * *

><p>"Sunday," a soft knock accompanied the equally soft voice. I looked at the door and smiled when I saw Cameron standing there with a bear in one hand and the other pushing the door open. "Can I sleep here tonight?"<p>

"Of course you can, Cam." I moved over in the bed and put my laptop on the floor, pulling down the covers so he could crawl in beside me. "What's up, Slugger?"

"Dad calls me that." He smiled as I pulled the covers over him.

"I know; which is why I do." I patted his stomach and shimmied down so I was lying down too, "Why did you want to sleep in here with me? My room isn't nearly as cool as yours."

"I miss you when you're away."

"Aww, buddy. I miss you, too." I rolled onto my side and pouted at him. "You're one of the most awesome people I know. I wish you could come on the road with me. But you have school and that's _kind of_ important."

"It's not, it's really not. I can do my times tables so I can leave." He said in a rush, as though it meant that he'd be able to run away with the company.

"Yeah, but what about middle school? And high school? They're both so much fun and you don't want to miss out on that!" I said excitedly, even though I barely spent any time in either.

"I don't want to miss you or Dad." As soon as he mentioned dad his face dropped entirely, not even bothering to keep up the façade.

"You miss Dad."

"He's retiring and I don't want him too. He needs to wrestle and keep all the baddies away." Cam pulled the covers up around his neck.

"Who are the baddies, Cam?" I asked with a knowing smile.

"The Legacy. Miz and Morrison. CM Punk." He snarled all of the names and I laughed at him, ruffling his hair as best as I could.

"You know that Randy, Cody and Ted are some of my best friends. Mike and John are great, too. As for Phil, you know that what he says is only a joke."

"But on the TV they're _baddies_ and Dad _stops the baddies_."

"But if he stops fighting the baddies, he gets to come home and be with you. He'll go to all your baseball games and he'll take you to school and help you with your homework. Dad being at home is going to be _so much better for you_."

I was breaking my own heart as I spoke. Everything I was saying was one hundred and ten percent true, he had just never been at home to do all those things with me.

"But he's hurt, I know he's hurt and I don't want him to be hurt."

"Cam, once he comes home he's going to get better. He won't be hurt anymore." I comforted the young boy.

"And I'll still get to see Paul?" he asked me quietly and I snorted – _actually snorted_.

"All the time. You know they're best friends."

"You and Dad will both be home and we'll be a family again." His eyes started to close, telling me he was drifting on to sleep.

"Listen to me, Cam." I whispered, "No matter where I am, where Dad is. Whether we're here or somewhere else, we're _always_ family. You guys are the most important thing in our lives. If you really needed us, we'd drop the wrestling in a second to come home and help."

"Then why do you always want to leave?" I paused for a moment. It was a valid question.

"Because…" I breathed in and out slowly, "Those guys on the road, Cody, Barbie, Kofi, Ted – _everyone _– they're my family, too. I need to get a bit better at time management. But I'm all yours for however long it takes for my wrist to get better. If I go anywhere, you're coming with me, Cam."


	10. Valentine's Day

**a/n: I'm going to cry because no one reviewed =[ it makes me sad… If I started replying would you be more inclined to do so? But thanks for the alerts and favourites =D**

**For Sunday's dinner outfit: cgi/set?id=72415717, ignore the fact that the outfit would have cost way too much money for any normal person, it's the look that counts.**

**This is the longest chapter I may have ever written. And at the end it gets mature, so I upped the rating to M and feel free to skip it if it makes you feel uncomfortable.**

_And for the record, Sunday loves the moustache._

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 10: Valentine's Day**

_"For it was not into my ear that you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul." – Judy Garland_

* * *

><p>Sunday, February 14<p>

"Where are you? It's freezing out here!"

"I'm coming! I'm just around the corner, but I vetoed our trip to the zoo." I looked down at Cameron and then back to the entry of the zoo.

"Well, I have a surprise for you."

"Awesome!" Cody said excitedly, "What is it?"

"Guess." I laughed at his childishness. He was so excited.

"Is it small?" he questioned and I again looked to my brother who was looking at me confused, trying to hide his nose behind his hands.

"I wouldn't say that… Actually, it's quite big." I nodded in affirmation even though he couldn't see it.

"It's a giant teddy bear isn't it? Oh wow, this is going to be awkward because I got you the exact same thing." I laughed at him. Cameron tugged on my arm and I noticed that he was shaking because it was so cold.

"Please hurry, its freezing and it looks like it might start to snow."

"I'm here," he told me and I heard the car pull up into the car park. "Who is that?"

I ended the call because we were three seconds away from having a face to face conversation about it and I didn't want to repeat myself. Cameron hugged me and I put my arms around his head and neck, holding him to my woollen coat to try to stop him shaking.

"Do I have a kid I didn't know about?" Cody asked as he stood in front of me, looking from my face to the top of Cameron's head to my face again. "Because I don't think Valentine's Day was the right time to spring it on me."

"We've been dating for three years Cody and sleeping together for two, I don't think it makes any sense that we'd have a ten year old." I assured him and he furrowed his brow. "I promised him he'd be coming with me everywhere I went until I was all better." Cody pulled an annoyed face but I pulled a stern one back at him and he nodded slowly.

"Cam?" he asked, making sure it was in fact Cameron and also getting the boys attention. "What's up, man?" Cameron pulled away from me to shake Cody's hand but he instantly turned back into me.

"Cut him some slack," I defended my brother when Cody laughed at him, "It's at least fifty degrees back home and here we are at freezing point."

"I didn't say anything. Can he ice skate?"

"He grew up in Houston; do you think he knows how to ice skate?"

* * *

><p>"Can we get McDonalds for lunch?" Cameron asked from the backseat of Cody's car. We were on our way to Brenton Skating Plaza, the outdoor entertainment venue. I didn't ice skate. I <em>don't<em> ice skate. I wrestle and sometimes I'm not really graceful about it. Which kind of explains the broken wrist.

"Can we?" Cody asked, looking to me for permission and I shrugged at him.

"Can you _afford_ to have Micky D's? I mean, you're getting a little pudgy." I poked his stomach and he intentionally flexed his abs because he knew exactly what I was about to do. He turned around to look at Cameron.

"We're getting McDonald's." he decided.

I watched as he ordered the food, and it was a lot. Even when he was eating unhealthy garbage he ate a lot.

"I'm a growing boy." He said when I commented on it and I just shook my head, telling him that he was going to have to add a few extra hours of exercise if he wanted to look good before Raw. "I can think of a few ways." He whispered in my ear and I smirked, but hit his arm because were in the presence of a child.

"How many people are going to propose on the ice today?" I asked absentmindedly, noticing a few families come into the restaurant.

"Too many." Cody determined with a second's thought. "If we get any time on the ice at all, I'll be surprised."

"Why won't we get time on the ice?" Cameron asked with a mouth full of food.

"Swallow first, talk second." I scolded him while Cody answered.

"If you propose on the ice you get a song to yourself. And if enough people propose, they'll all get a song and we won't get any time on the ice."

"Oh, well that's nice." Cameron smiled. "You should propose on the ice." He looked at Cody and I did too. I saw Cody's panicked expression and looked back at Cameron who was still smiling.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom." I said quietly, pushing my seat out and hurriedly walking away.

_Propose_. The fucker couldn't even tell me he loved me and Cameron was expecting a _proposal_. Granted, I hadn't said I loved him either. I did. I _do_. I love him, I just don't want to say it first and have it thrown back in my face because he's decided that he's only with me for the sex.

I stared at myself in the mirror for five minutes, scrutinising how chubby my cheeks had gotten, how tired I looked, how many pimples I had. I'd let myself go on my break. I figured that it was nine weeks away from the ring, and it was perfectly okay to indulge. I hadn't anticipated any longer eating crap food and forgetting workouts.

"Sun? You alright? We should probably go." Cody said through the door, knocking quietly. Luckily no one else was in there or it would have been a tad awkward.

I flattened my hair and put a smile on my face, walking out the door to see him waiting for me.

"You okay?" he asked as though Cameron had never brought up proposal.

"I had to pee." I said casually and he laughed at me, putting his arm over my shoulder and walking me back into the main area of the restaurant.

"Here's your bag." Cameron handed me my handbag and I thanked him. "Can we go skating now?"

"You can't skate!" I reminded him and he hung his head.

"Cody's going to teach me!"

"Is he now?" I asked, looking at both of them in surprise. "This is all on you, babe. I am not helping at all."

* * *

><p>"Slugger, go get your skates. I want to talk to Cody for a second." I placed the skate hire ticket into his hand and watched him run off.<p>

"You want to talk to me? Am I in trouble?" he joked with me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him quickly.

"I'm sorry that I brought him along. I promised and I can't break a promise to that kid." I whispered, our mouths touching as I did so.

"That's okay. I guess he's staying for the show tomorrow, too?" I nodded, "And he can stay with your dad for the night?" he asked me hopefully but I pouted.

"Dad says it was my idea and I have to take responsibility and look after him."

"But Sun… I haven't seen you in… _Forever_." He exaggerated, kissing me again but only for a second before he pulled back and put on his thinking face. "We will ask someone to look after him for three hours."

"Three hours? Feeling cocky?" I leaned back and smirked at him.

"We'll have dinner, because I already booked a restaurant and then… I want some time with you. And only you." He kissed me, holding me tighter than he had in a long time. "God, I miss you, Sunday."

"I miss you too, Cody."

"I have my shoes!" Cameron exclaimed, unfazed by our public display of affection.

"Your skates, bud." I corrected him, "Code, go get yours and I'll help him with these."

"Is Cody going to propose?" Cameron asked me casually as I pulled on his skates and tightened his laces.

"I don't think so bud."

"Why not?" he asked me, sticking out his left foot so I could help him get the other skate on. "You're in love, people get married when they're in love."

"I'm only twenty three, Cam; I have forever to get married. Now stop talking about this."

"Why?"

"Because I said so." I told him, hating myself for it. I hated being told to do something with the excuse 'because I said so'. It was Shawn's best line when I was growing up and I rarely listened, but it was the only thing I could offer to Cameron.

"So, the guy who hands out skates is a fan…" Cody said as he came back, sitting down beside Cameron just as a finished tying up his shoe. "Asked if you were here. Promised us a song if we wanted it."

"I don't want a song." I laughed, "I'm terrible. How embarrassing would it be to have the rink to ourselves and then for me to fall on my ass."

"You act like I do this all the time." He laughed at me and I gave him a pointed look. "I'm from Georgia."

"This was your idea; you wouldn't have chosen this if you were going to suck." I leaned forward and kiss him softly, "I'm going to get my skates. Start teaching Cam."

My brother got to his feet instantly, wobbling as he did so but recomposing himself and standing up proudly.

Cody wasn't lying when he said the guy at the counter was a fan. He asked for an autograph and a picture and started praising me and telling me that he wanted to come back soon. He let me know that my father was the reason he started watching wrestling and that he was cut to hear that he was retiring. I had to assure him that retirement would not stop him from appearing occasionally. It took me about ten minutes to get my skates because of how complimentary he was being.

He offered me the couple skate just as he had done for Cody but I politely refused and told him that it would probably be bad for business if anyone actually watched me skate. They'd probably think it was contagious.

When I returned to the placed I had left Cody and Cameron, they were no longer there and I sat down facing the rink, trying to spot them. It didn't take long to comb the walls and see Cameron holding on with two hands while Cody stood beside him, making sure he didn't fall down.

I quickly put on my skates and joined them on the ice, slowly skating over to them. Cody took my hand instantly, and kissed the back of it.

"How you going?" I leant around Cody to ask Cameron who quickly removed one of his hands and gave me a thumbs up.

When I said I was a terrible skater, I wasn't lying. I can stay upright enough but I can't stop to save my life meaning that I have to skate towards the wall and run in to it to come to a stop.

Cody on the other hand is a natural at almost everything he does and can stop whenever he wishes; including the times he had to help me off of the ground because I landed on my ass.

There was one time that some teenager accidentally skated into me and I wasn't prepared for the fall and I landed on my wrist. _That wrist_.

Pain shot through it and I felt tears come to my eyes. People skating around me stopped, looked at me asked if I was alright and then leant forward to try and help me when I didn't respond. I shooed them all away though because I trusted no one to get me off the ice without hurting me even more.

Except for Cody of course, who was on the other side of the rink helping Cameron who had also fallen over and hadn't noticed that I was sitting on the ice, getting frostbite on my ass and crying while people huddled around me.

"Sunday Michaels?" the teenage boy who knocked me over asked me in shock and stopped in front of me. "Fuck, I'm sorry."

"I just… Get Cody for me." I whined, before tacking on the end: "Please." He was off in a flash, knowing exactly who I was after. This boy had been looking at us for the entire afternoon, trying to work out if we were who he thought.

He seemed to know what was going on, too, because he went over to Cody, pointed to me and then pointed to his wrist as he spoke. Cody looked to me and then to Cameron who had kind of begun to freak out. He had a serious talk with him before he even began to come to me. I can only assume it involved Cody telling Cameron not to move off of the wall or he'd up like me. On my ass in the middle of the rink while everyone around me wondered why the twenty-something woman was such a klutz.

"Shit, Sun, are you okay?" Cody knelt down in front of me, gently cupping my face.

"It hurts." I managed a weak smile, almost laughing at how pathetic I was being. But it _fucking hurt_, alright?

Getting me up was a challenge in itself, he stood to his feet and then took hold of my good hand and then put his other hand under my left shoulder and tried his best to help me up. He had to call in assistance because it's really quite difficult to get a person to their feet when their on the ice.

Once I was seated off of the ice, Cody went back to retrieve Cameron before returning to me to help me get my skates off.

"Think you'll be alright for dinner?" he asked with a playful smile and I knew that he did _not_ mean dinner at all he was just hiding the fact that were going to have long overdue sex from my younger brother.

* * *

><p>"You want me to sacrifice my Valentine's Day plans to babysit your brother?"<p>

"Give me a legitimate run down of your plans and I'll reconsider."

"You're cruel."

I smiled up at Kofi and leant in to give him a hug but he stepped backwards.

"You owe me, Hickie."

"Why? Because you can't jack off? I'm asking you to mind him for 3 hours, I think you'll survive." I winked at him playfully and didn't bother going in for another hug.

"How's your wrist?" he asked me suddenly and I shrugged. "Cody told me."

"Of course he did." I nodded with a small laugh, "And he'd already asked you to look after Cam, right?" Kofi nodded. "It's fine, thanks for asking."

"You have to watch yourself."

"I know, Kofi. I know." I assured him. "I have to go get ready for dinner; I'll drop Cam off on our way through, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll see you soon." I beamed up at him and walked away, hearing him shut the door to his hotel room as I walked away.

So, maybe it was cruel to ask _Kofi _to look after my brother while I went on a date with my boyfriend. Maybe it was a bit insensitive, but it's not like I purposely chose him, he was just the only person not on a date that I trusted with my little brother.

I thought about it the whole time I got ready, though. I didn't _want_ things to change just because I found out that Kofi liked me more than he should, but that doesn't change the fact that it was going to be different. I'd probably have to be more considerate and less affectionate in public. Not that I could do that without raising questions from _everyone_.

I gave Kofi a hug and a kiss on the cheek when we dropped Cameron off. Cameron was pretty excited that he'd get to spend time with him because he loved Kofi's character and the fact that the real life Kofi was a video game fanatic.

At the restaurant I looked through the menu but I already sort of knew what I was going to order. When you have a fucked up wrist, your choices are limited.

"I'll just have the Bolognese." I smiled at the waitress who nodded and turned to Cody, smiling widely at him and I'm pretty sure she winked. The cons of dating a gorgeous man, every one.

"The veal parmigiana, thanks."

"Can I get you another drink?" Cody looked to me and I shook my head.

"No thanks, we're good."

"I can't take you anywhere." I laughed as I noticed the waitress put an extra wiggle in her walk as she turned around and continued to the next table.

"What do you mean?" he asked cluelessly.

"That waitress was checking you out, and today, _all_ of the ladies at the rink were checking you out."

"Jealous?"

"Quite the opposite, I think it's hilarious." I smirked at him. "They don't understand that they're never going to get you."

We lapsed into a comfortable silence after laughing for a few moments; Cody broke it by asking me a question.

"Why pasta? You never order pasta."

"Because I can't cut up my own meat and I don't want anyone to be cutting my meals in public." I explained when I saw him open his mouth; clearly about to tell me he'd have helped me.

"I got you a present!" he said quickly, trying to avoid me being sad. I assume, or maybe he just wanted his present, too. He pulled a box out of his pocket. The women in the restaurant who were receiving similar boxes would have gasped and brought their hands to their mouths, expecting a ring. I knew better. He handed it to me with a small smile and I smiled back at him. I raised an eyebrow at the box with _Chanel _written on it, smiling even wider as I opened it. Inside was a necklace with a heart pendant featuring the Chanel logo.

"Cody, it's beautiful." I gaped at him, in the years we had been dating it was the most beautiful thing he had gotten me. "I love it." He stood up and walked over to me, taking the necklace from my hands. I moved my hair so he could fix the clasp around my neck. A shiver ran down my spine as he traced the outline of my tattoo. _That boy_. "I have your present!" I said excitedly as he sat back down. I rummaged through my purse and pulled out a small box.

He looked down at it curiously but opened it with a huge smile.

"Cufflinks." He chuckled, "Tri Force cufflinks. I will be wearing these to the Hall of Fame." He assured me.

"I wanted cuff _Links_ but apparently they don't exist."

"This is great, Sun. Thank you." He leant forward, as did I, connecting our lips in the centre of the table.

"That's only the first half of your present though."

* * *

><p>Cody had me in the hotel room as quick as he ever had, not wasting any time in attaching our lips together. I instantly stepped out of my shoes, I was taller than him in them and that was something he didn't appreciate. He quickly undid the buttons of my coat as I played with the buttons on his suit jacket. I helped him remove my coat but wasn't given the opportunity to remove his before he span my around and unzipped my dress. He kissed the tattoo on the back of my neck before making me face him. He took a step back and I smiled knowingly, I moved my arms from the dress and shimmied it over my hips and stood up straight when it hit the ground. He stared at me with a purely carnal look in his eyes and in a rough voice said,<p>

"Are you trying to kill me, Sunday?"

"Happy Valentine's Day, babe." I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him passionately. His hands rested on my hips, touching the garter belt I had worn just for him and he smirked against my lips.

I pushed the jacket off of his shoulders and quickly began unbuttoning his shirt – pretty much with one hand so it took a tad longer than normal but he made no attempt to interfere, he continued to kiss me as though nothing else was going on. I'm not going to lie, he looked _great_ in a suit but it was so much easier to get him out of his clothes when he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I pushed the white shirt off of his shoulders too and kissed the junction of his neck.

He lifted me up quickly and effortlessly, dropping me onto the bed after two steps. He knelt at the end, put hand on the bed, the other on my waist and lifted me up to move me closer to the bed head.

He kissed just under my ear, earning a moan before he again rested his hands on my waist. It was only for a split second because he was soon removing my underwear, slipping them down my thighs, over my knees and off my legs, throwing them across the room.

Cody kissed up my leg, up my thigh highs, stopping at my inner thigh. His teeth nipped at the suspenders hanging from my garter belt. I moaned his name, my hands falling to his hair. My right hand tightened its grip while my left one stayed their limply, but that was the last thing that mattered as his mouth finally kissed the one place I wanted.

My hips bucked up instantly and I felt him smirk. I pulled his hair but that only encouraged him.

He knew exactly what felt good, he'd done it enough times that there was no way he was making a mistake. He had no reservations and it only felt better the more it happened. I screamed his name as I reached the point of no return, not caring who was in the room next door – no doubt it was someone we knew – just wanting him to know how good he was making me feel.

He kissed the insides of both of my thighs, before kissing just below my naval and moving up my stomach. Cody kissed the tops of my breasts before reaching behind me and unhooking my bra expertly, he threw that across the room, too.

"_God_." Blasphemy wasn't my thing. But what else can one say when you're being made to feel things that you can't really express with words?

Before he could do anything else, I reached down and unzipped his pants. He kissed me roughly – but no less passionately than he should have – and impatiently moved my hands out of the way. Within seconds his pants were on the floor and my hand was resting over his crotch.

"Fuck, Sunday." He moaned into my shoulder and I squeezed lightly but he definitely knew what was going to happen. "None of that." He took hold of my hand, holding it above my head, using his other to push his briefs down his legs so they joined his pants.

He connected our moves, my arm still being forced above my head, and I moaned louder than I had the whole night as he pushed himself into me. I gasped and I moaned, I instantaneously wrapped my legs around his waist and held him tighter to me.

I climaxed before he did because of the extra attention he'd given me. It happened not just once but twice before he finally joined me in what could only be described as heaven on earth.

He screamed my name as he came, not bothering to muffle his voice. The entire company knew that we were having sex; why not let them know just how good it was?


	11. Old Friends, New Enemies

**a/n: who alerted/faved this story since last time… Drop a review and get to know me! =D this chapter ties in with chapter 16 of _The Last Unbroken Hart_.**

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><p><strong> Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 11: Old Friends, New Enemies**

_"You and I were long friends : you are now my enemy, and I am yours."_ – Benjamin Franklin

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><p>Monday, February 15<p>

Dad had agreed to mind Cameron for a half hour while I walked around backstage, taking a well-deserved break from my little brother. I do love the boy – but only in small doses. He's loud and he has too much energy. I think Kofi fed him pure sugar while he was minding him.

The show had long ended and most of the talent had gone home, only the ring crew and a select few wrestlers remained behind. I always liked this part of the night, it was quiet and peaceful – not something usually associated with Monday Night Raw.

I walked down the hall, heading back to DX's locker room when I saw Laura Hart standing alone, lost in thought.

"What are you still doing here?" I asked her somewhat incredulously. She turned around to look at me, her jaw dropping slightly. "All your people left half an hour ago." Laura rolled her eyes.

"Who exactly are _my_ people, Sunday?" she asked with a sour voice and I shrugged, walking towards her.

"Gail, Eve, Matt, Chris... Hell, even your dad's gone." I listed as I leant against the wall opposite her, looking her up and down. Laura looked at the ground. "Are you here to tell Vince you finally want in?" she looked back up and I smiled at her. It wasn't a natural smile, exactly, more of a knowing smirk if anything.

"I don't want in," she told me shortly, "If I did, I'd already be here." My smile dropped instantly and I tried to shrug off some of my anger.

"I _hate_ how you think that just because you're a Hart you think you're better than anybody else here. You think you can just do whatever you want. Getting here wasn't easy, Laura." I scowled, crossing my arms. "I worked my _ass_ off. I'm not here because HBK is my dad. Hell, that's probably the reason it took me so long to get here."

"I never said it was easy. Why do you always have to put words in my mouth?" she barked at me, "It's always been that way. You always used to accuse me of shit I didn't do. Not once did I say I was better than you. Not once did I say I could make it here. I'd have it as hard as you, trying to make it in this damn business. I'm not saying anything is easy!" I shook my head, laughing to myself sarcastically.

"No, you're not saying it. You're thinking it." I watched her pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration. It's something she used to do when she was a child.

"If I thought it was easy... I'd have tried, just to say that I'd done it." I turned to walk away; I'd had enough of her already. "I didn't want to give up all those years of my life for something I didn't even want to do." I had only taken a few steps when I stopped, took a deep breath and faced her once more.

"You always say that. That you didn't want to do this. To be one of us. Don't think for one second I've forgotten our conversations. When we were ten and all you wanted to be was the next Alundra Blayze. She was your idol." Her eyes dropped to her feet and I knew that she understood and was remembering those conversations. "And then your family started to fall apart. It didn't take long for you to take back everything that you had said. You even tried to take back our friendship. You wanted nothing to do with me, because I wanted this life."

I watched realisation dawn on her face. She knew that I was saying the truth, everything coming out of my mouth was real and she was only just coming to terms with it – or at least with the fact that I knew. "Your family was falling apart. Laura, I didn't have a family. It was me and Dad. For _years_ it was just us two. You had a massive network of relatives, that, despite what happened, loved you."

"Where are you going with this, Sunday? You've already made me feel bad about it." I smirked again, proud of myself for doing just that. For years I had wanted to get this off of my chest.

"I want you to know that you could have done what you wanted to. But you trained yourself to think it was all wrong. You could have had this." I looked and gestured around the backstage area. Nothing was happening, but the look on her face let me know that she understood what I was getting at. "And you could have had the relationship you've always wanted. I've been with Cody for two years." _Love isn't a factor, but still, two years._

"You think it's that easy, don't you? All you knew was two people. My life was falling apart, this place hurt too much. You think I have a way of belittling them. You don't know how much that meant to me, that big family."

I was trying to gather her thoughts. Once upon a time I'd known her well, I could tell what was running through her mind just by the way her eyebrow twitched. But we weren't friends anymore, far from it. 'Enemies' is a more accurate word.

"What's going on here?" Paul walked just as I thought I saw something cross her face.

"Nothing," I turned to him, "Just having a friendly chat." I smiled at Paul, glared back at Laura and then walked off before Paul could ask me anymore questions.

The door to the locker room was partially open, so I let myself in. A warm smile crossed my face as I saw dad and Cameron playing rock, paper, scissors. It was such a simple game but it always made Cameron happy.

"We have to get going, Cam. I do have to get you to school tomorrow."

"I don't want to go to school tomorrow!" he whined, bunching up his hand and turning to me. "I want to stay here forever with dad!"

"I know, slugger, but I have to get back home, too. I have another doctor's appointment, remember?" he pouted at me and I walked over to him, ruffling his hair. "Don't look at me like that. I know exactly how you feel."

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><p><strong>an: please vote on the poll on my page! =D And also, check out my profile and read about my 'What If' project! You may have had some 'What If's about Sunday or Laura and this is the perfect way to have them expanded on!**


	12. Elimination Chamber

**a/n hey all! I created a Tumblr for my stories! It contains all the information for my OCs and summaries of my future stories! Please check it out, follow it if you have a Tumblr and ask questions. Any questions you have about stories or OCs, I will answer! Thank you to no one who reviewed. Love you, too guys!**

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 12: Elimination Chamber**

_"I had never known a more vulgar expression of betrayal and deceit." _– Lucien Bouchard

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><p>Sunday, February 21<p>

"Cameron! Get back here!" I called after my half-brother. "Where are you going?!"

I screamed out in frustration as he disappeared around a corner. I ran to that corner but he was nowhere to be seen. I sighed and decided to let him go – he couldn't go too far and someone he knew would no doubt find him.

I wandered into catering – Cameron wasn't there – and walked straight to the food. The caterers smiled weakly at me as I helped myself to a toasted sandwich. I was sick of everyone feeling sorry for me. Shawn must have told them that I had to go in for surgery. Everyone had been giving me sympathetic looks since I arrived at the Scottrade Centre.

"You haven't seen him them?" I asked Kofi as I sat down opposite him at small table towards the abck of the room.

"Who? Cody? He's with Ted and Randy."

"No, Cameron. He ran off when we got here and I thought he might have gone looking for you." I explained just before taking a bite out of my dinner.

"May have. But I'm here and he isn't, so he'll have to keep looking. Can't have gone too far, anyway." I nodded and took another bite. I watched Kofi out of the corner of my eye and frowned.

"Are you okay? You're a bit jumpy." I asked him with a full mouth, causing him to cringe slightly. "Are you nervous? You have every right to be, sixteen tonnes of steel is pretty scary."

"Petrified." He said without looking up at me. "Stupid spots and all that."

"You'll do great. I've said all my prayers to make sure no one gets hurt."

"Thanks, Hickie." He was still jumpy when he left to stretch but I didn't want to bring it up again in case I made him more nervous.

I sat alone for a quarter of an hour before I was joined by Keegan Starr.

"How's Smackdown?" I asked her as she dropped down into the seat opposite me.

"I get to listen to LayCool tear down the Divas every week." She deadpanned. "And when I'm not doing that I get to talk to Michelle. She's really set on getting to know me."

"She mother number three?" I asked and Keegan rolled her eyes. "I'll take that as a yes. How are the sisters? And Gunner?" she stared at me blankly, "Fine. I see you aren't too happy about the Divas' match tonight."

"If LayCool get chosen over me once more for the Pay Per View, I might actually cry." She huffed, crossing her arms on the table and resting her head on top of them.

I laughed at her. I didn't know how it felt – I'd only been on the main roster since Summerslam in August, making it six months. But of those six months I'd spent a nearly half of it on the sidelines. I had been ringside at Summerslam and Bragging Rights, and had been on commentary for Hell in a Cell and Breaking Point.

I stopped laughing when I realised how little I had done on my own.

"How's your wrist?" she asked me, finally raising her head.

"Shit." I answered honestly, "I need surgery. I think they're going to have to re-break it and put a screw in it."

"Bummer." She frowned at me.

"How's the romance front?" she rolled her eyes and laughed at me.

"You try getting some action with the Deadman breathing down your neck. No one even looks at me." She sighed. I cocked my eyebrow, "I'm serious."

"They're looking at you – from behind their hands and around corners. They've definitely looked at you." She shook her head at me and laughed lightly.

I glanced around the room, watching people get up and leave. Most of the people in the room looked at me at least once with a pitying look and I turned back to Keegan.

"Why is everyone looking at me like I'm about to die?" I asked her, hoping she'd have an answer. She looked around the room, too, taking in all of the looks.

"Because of your wrist?" she offered, "I don't know. I try not to get caught up in the politics. I had enough of that as a teenager."

"Yeah. I just wish I was getting better, you know. How am I supposed to prove that I can do this by myself if a) I can't even get in the ring and b) he's still here?"

"Preaching to the choir." Keegan said back to me with an apologetic smile. "We'll do it."

"I fucking hope so." I slumped down into my chair, "Anyway, I gotta go. I lost Cam about half an hour ago. I should probably find him."

"Probably." She half laughed.

I pushed my chair back and walked through catering, ignoring the people who were pouting at me.

I asked around and eventually found out that Cameron had parked his ass in front of the monitor near Gorilla.

"Anyone been eliminated, bud?" he shook his head.

"It's just started."

"Kofi and Sheamus?" he nodded. I sat down on the crate beside him.

* * *

><p>"You killed it out there." I told Kofi as I walked up beside him, "My prayers worked, no one got hurt."<p>

"I credit you with that." He smiled down at me, "If you hadn't I'm sure we'd all be limping around on crutches. Where's Cody?"

"No idea." I shrugged, "He's probably with Ted somewhere. Unless Ted's with Eve."

"Why would Ted be with Eve?" Kofi asked and I shrugged again, worried that I had said too much. I wasn't supposed to say anything. I was supposed to find out what was going on. I suppose that's a bit hard when I'm away more often than not. "Sit down for a sec, Hickie."

"What's up?" I asked, concerned because Kofi had suddenly become serious. He directed me to a folding chair and I sat down hesitantly. He knelt down in front of me and rested his hands on my knees. "Seriously."

"I didn't want to be the one to tell you." I raised both of my eyebrows.

"You're not about to tell me Cody's cheating on me, are you?" I asked quickly and loudly.

"No, God no."

"Don't." I said unconsciously at the blaspheme.

"Sorry. You need to know, Sun." he fished through his jeans pockets and pulled out his phone. I stared at him, more confused that I had ever been as he tapped the screen until he reached what he was after. "These were sent out to most of the males on the roster last week. They were sent from Cody's phone. I'm sorry."

I took the phone from his hand and instantly dropped it, standing up.

"He didn't. He wouldn't have."

"Sun." Kofi grabbed my wrist, "I'm sorry."

I ripped my arm out of his grasp and broke into a quick run down the back halls of Scottrade Centre. I was too angry to cry. I knew why people had been giving me pitying looks all evening; it had nothing to do with my wrist at all.

I didn't bother knocking on the locker room door; I turned the handle and walked straight in. Ted, who was zipping up his bag, looked up and took a step back.

"I'll deal with you another time. Where's Cody?" I asked, peering behind the door.

"Sun?" he stepped out of the bathroom, a worried look on his face. "Are you okay?"

"_How could you?_" I asked him quietly, "Those pictures. I can't believe you!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb! Those photos I sent were for _you_ and _you only_." I didn't walk over to him, but he was taking small steps towards me.

"I'm not an idiot, Sunday." I took in a deep breath.

"Then why does Kofi have them on his phone? Why has everyone been giving me pitying looks since I got here? Everyone has seen them and it's your fault! You're the only one that has them!" I yelled.

Ted was standing stock still over his bag. I could tell he knew what I was talking about because he'd gone slightly red in the cheeks.

"Why would I send them out? You're _my _girlfriend. No one else needs to see those photos." Cody took another step and was standing in front of me, his hands on my shoulders. "I don't know how those photos got out, Sun."

"Bullshit. I don't believe you." I stepped away from him, his hands falling to his sides. I'm going to stay with Kofi. I can't even look at you."


	13. I Love You

**a/n I swear I always intend on making these chapters longer... And then they don't get any longer and I feel like a huge disappointment. Thanks to _Showni13_ for reviewing! This one's for you, gorgeous!**

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 13: I Love You**

"To show pity is felt as a sign of contempt because one has clearly ceased to be an object of fear as soon as one is pitied." Freidrich Nietzsche

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><p><em>Monday, February 22<em>

I didn't remember why I was in Kofi's room for a good while after I had woken. And because he'd gone to the gym – I was unable to ask him.

I woke up to a text from dad telling me I needed to collect Cameron because he was my responsibility. I was beginning to seriously regret making him that promise. He was probably missing some important lessons at school.

I couldn't go collect him, though. Especially considering what I had done. I knew the morning after feeling all too well. Only it had never felt so bad.

There was no chance I was going to hang around and wait for Kofi to return. That was not a conversation I wanted to have with him. Or anyone. I didn't want to admit it. I didn't want to admit that I had cheated on my boyfriend.

The speed at which I picked up all of my clothes and wheeled my suitcases out of the room had to set a new record. I was doing exactly what I had been condemning Ted for.

With my heart pounding in my ears I ran from the room, making sure to have the key to Cody's room ready. I was inside before anyone could have spotted me.

My first step was to lay face first on the bed and cry. I don't think I've ever cried so hard in my life. It was all so stressful.

I knew what I'd done and I knew why I'd been so compelled to. I'd been away from Cody for so long and he wasn't having a great day, so I sent him a few barely clothed pictures to him as a pick-me-up.

Cody must have gone to the gym with Kofi because he didn't come back for almost an hour, but when he opened the door I was still crying.

"Sunday…"

"I'm so, so sorry, Cody. I didn't mean it. I swear." I was sobbing hysterically as I crawled to the edge of the bed. "You have to know how sorry I am. I'd do anything to take it back!"

"What are you talking about?" he worried, taking a step towards me.

"Kofi… I swear, it was an accident."

I watched as the realisation dawned on his face. His worried expression crumbled into one of heartbreak.

"You didn't. With my best friend?" I sucked in a sharp breath as he started to move backwards.

"I was angry, Cody… It meant nothing, I swear to you."

"Angry at what? Something you just assumed?" The tears were pouring down my cheeks faster than they had all morning. "You didn't even _talk_ to me about it, Sun. If you had, we could have worked out what the fuck happened. But, no, you had to be fucking stubborn about. And _then_ you sleep with my best friend."

"It meant nothing!"

"That doesn't change the fact that it happened. I'm out of here." He turned around and walked back to the door.

I don't know if he heard me, but I didn't care. For the first time in the relationship I wasn't afraid to say it out loud, I had to let him know.

"But I love you."

* * *

><p>"Come on, slugger." I took hold of Cameron's hand and hauled him into the building. I hadn't spoken to anybody other than Cameron all day. He was still young and naïve enough to believe that I was crying because I hurt my wrist, so I didn't have to explain the whole scenario to him. He was too young to hear about my indiscretions. "You're hanging with me tonight, okay? No going off to find dad. He's busy."<p>

"Can we hang out with Sheamus?" he asked with a hopeful smile. I rose an eyebrow, unsure of when he had even met Sheamus, but shook my head.

"Sorry, bud. He got knocked out last night, so they sent him home."

"Can we hang out with Kofi?"

"He has a match he needs to get ready for." I breathed a sigh of relief that it was the truth. I had done an excellent job avoiding him all day.

"Cody?"

"Kofi, Bourne and Tatsu are facing The Legacy, we can't distract them."

He could tell that something was up given how weird I was being. I had never stopped him from speaking to people who had matches before tonight and he was catching on.

"Santino?"

"Let's go find him, shall we?"

After telling Cam that I was going to look after him, I quickly took the opportunity to leave him with Anthony and go off in search of Victoria. I seriously hoped she would be able to shed some light on the leaking of the pictures.

I was lucky to find her with Steph and Brie in the locker room.

"Aww, babe." Victoria pouted as she saw me step into the locker room. I broke down as soon as she hugged me. I'd managed to keep it together while I was with my brother but I couldn't any more.

"Everyone in this company has seen me naked!" I cried out. "What if _Shawn_ has seen them?" I asked in a sudden panic. "Oh my god!" _Blaspheme_.

"They're not so bad, Sunday." Steph rubbed my back soothingly. "Honest."

"I can't walk through here without people looking at me like they've seen me naked. They're all judging me."

"Do you think it was Cody?" Steph asked me and I slowly pulled away from Victoria.

"At first… But why would he do it? There's no reason for him, too."

"Just talk to him about it. You'll get to the bottom of it in no time." I shook my head pathetically at Brie. "Why not?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Never. It was never going to be spoken about ever again. "We an argument… I don't know where we stand."

The three girls looked at me sadly. I'd never been on the receiving end of that look before. No one's ever felt _sad_ for me. Most of the time they were angry at me or jealous. They never pitied me.

Let me tell you, it's not a feeling I want to get used to.


	14. Thoughts

**a/n all the thanks in the world to _Showni13_ for reviewing! I love you!**

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><p><strong> Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 14: Thoughts**

"Our destiny changes with our thought; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thought corresponds with our desire." Orison Swett Marden

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><p><em>Thursday, March 4 <em>

"I'll be here when you get out, alright? And your father wants you to call him as soon as you feel up to."

"I know, I will," I smiled sadly. "Thanks, Rebecca."

She squeezed my good hand gently and I was wheeled down the hall in my hospital bed.

I'd been scheduled in to have surgery on my left arm. The plan was to re-break it and then put some pins in to make sure it heals correctly. I suppose I should have felt happy that I was finally going to improve. Though of the two things on my mind, that wasn't one of them.

The first, of course, was the thought that Cody might not ever speak to me again.

The second being that I would have to go the Hall of Fame ceremony with a cast on my arm.

Priorities, right?

I followed the lines in the ceiling as I was wheeled through the hospital. I never really hated hospitals. They weren't my favourite places in the world but I'd never been afraid of walking into one. To me they weren't places people died but places where people healed.

"Alright Sunday, did you have any last questions?"

"None," I answered, staring up at the, still white, ceiling.

"Alright then. We're going to put this mask on and if you start counting back from 100 you should be out before you hit 80."

I did as I was told, counting backwards from 100 and sure enough I can't remember anything after 90.

* * *

><p>I was home later that night, sitting in front of the television watching Cameron's favourite show. Not really watching, though, just staring at the television and pondering my life.<p>

My mind kept flickering back to Ted. I had never found out what he was up to. I'd been so preoccupied in trying to get better and back into the ring that I'd pushed it to the back of my mind – plus Cody really did not like me prying.

"How are you feeling?"

"Alright, I suppose," I told Rebecca. "It's not really sore. Just uncomfortable."

"You're thinking quite hard over there," she stated. Cameron's laugh in the background really brought me back into the living room. I needed to tell someone about what I'd done but there was no way I could say it in front of Cameron.

There was no way I could say it in front of Rebecca either.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go to bed." I stood up and said goodnight to my step-mum and half-brother.

As I walked to my room I looked down at my cast – Cheyenne had scribbled her name over a large majority of it – and genuinely couldn't believe that it was going to be almost six months until I could wrestle again. Three months with the arm in a cast and then a few months of physiotherapy to ensure I was 100%.

I changed as quickly as I could and climbed under the covers, pulling them up to my chin.

My phone lit up the room from the bedside table and it vibrated against the wood. I carefully rolled over to get it. My heart broke when I saw that it wasn't a text from Cody. It had been a week and half.

_Just fall of the face of the earth. That's fine. I only just heard about you and Cody. Was it about the photos? You looked hot if that makes you feel any better. Call me if you need to._

It was from Keegan. It didn't make me feel any better. My heart sunk to my stomach and I felt like I was going to vomit. The fact that the photos had travelled to Smackdown just added to the terrible week I was having.

Dad undoubtedly knew about them. He'd been distant since my last appearance at Raw.

I had nude photos floating around the WWE locker room and it was really only a matter of time before some asshole posted them on the internet.

* * *

><p><em>Friday, March 5<em>

"SMACKDOWN IS ON!" Cameron flew into my room and jumped on my bed. I quickly moved my laptop out of the way and stared at him. He was out of breath.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" he jumped up and down.

"Already?" I asked, watching as he grew more and more impatient.

"Yeah! Come on!" I held out my good hand and let him pull me from the bed. His footsteps were heavy as we ran through the halls and skid around the corner to the living room.

"Who do you want to see tonight?" I asked as I sat on the couch. He sat on a bean bag almost right in front of the television.

"Edge! He's going to beat Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania and be champion!"

"Is he now?" I couldn't help but smile at how excited he was. I remembered being just like him at that age. Always cheering the good guys and booing the bad guys – dad being the one notable exception – and knowing who I wanted to win and being really upset when they didn't.

"And when you get better you're going to be champion, too!" My heart soared as he turned to be and nodded enthusiastically.

"I like the sound of that!" I responded wholeheartedly. "Who am I going to beat? Michelle or Maryse?"

"Uh," he thought very hard for half a minute before coming to a conclusion. "Michelle! She's a big meany!" He froze when he heard the opening to the show. "It's starting! Shh!"

I tried my hardest to focus on the show but with the soaring pain in my wrist and the thoughts running through my head, I couldn't. I just couldn't.


	15. Missing You

**a/n: I ALMOST RUINED IT AT THE END WITH AN 'I LOVE YOU' BUT THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN WRONG. I am the author; you would think this is something I would know not to do. Okay, terribly sorry. But at least it's here.**

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 15: Missing You**

_"Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyse you; they're supposed to help you discover who you are." – Bernice Johnson Reagon_

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><p><em>Wednesday, March 9<em>

Word had, in little over 24 hours, gotten back to me that Laura Hart had disappeared. She showed up at the arena before the show started but told Nattie she was leaving soon after and no one has heard from her since. Personally, I think it has something to do with Matt.

"What did Shawn want?" Rebecca asked, sitting down opposite me at the kitchen table.

"He was just asking if knew where Laura Hart was. Apparently she's gone MIA," I put my phone on the table and shrugged. "Not sure why they think I'd know."

"Must be desperate," she offered and I nodded.

"It's only been twenty four hours, I'm sure she'll show up somewhere."

"How do you think we'd be if _you_ disappeared?" she asked, obviously sensing how little I cared.

"Wouldn't be the first time Dad's dealt with it," I told her honestly and she sighed.

"And how did he feel about that?"

"I was ten. I missed him. Hated my step-dad. So I left." Rebecca knew the story well; I didn't need to tell her. I just didn't want to remember how bad I felt when I realised how scared dad was. I wasn't too fussed about what mum thought – considering I was getting away from her – but to know I had upset Shawn… That sucked.

"Just because Laura's an adult, it doesn't make it any less stressful on Bret." I sucked in a breath and picked up my glass of water.

"Give it another day or two and I'll start to worry." I paused, thinking of a way to change the topic. "We're still going dress shopping today, right?"

"When I've dropped the kids at school, of course."

* * *

><p>"Have you spoken to Cody at all?" Rebecca asked, cutting through the silence of the store.<p>

"He's ignoring my calls and texts," I answered numbly, feeling the material of a blue dress.

"He'll come around, Sun. You just have to give him time." I would love to have believed her, but she didn't know the full story. She still didn't know that I had slept with Cody's best friend.

"Dad hasn't said anything to you, has he? I haven't heard from him other than this morning." Rebecca looked at me sadly and motioned for me to sit down on a seat in the store. She sat down beside me gently, taking my free hand in both of hers.

"I know what you're getting at," she said slowly. Well, she knew about the pictures. "He doesn't know what to say. You're his daughter. He has a hard enough time not worrying when you do a shoot in your bikini."

"I didn't-" I started to say, ready to tell her that they were _never_ supposed to see the light of day.

"We know you didn't mean it. We know that they were meant for Cody." I was grateful that she wasn't judging me – at least visibly. She was being very good about the whole thing.

"They aren't even really that bad. No worse than Playboy," I tried to reason but Rebecca chose not to respond to me. I knew how she felt about those magazines. I knew how _I _felt about those magazines.

"Let's find these dresses, shall we?" she patted my hand gently and helped me up off the chair.

"What colour should I wear?" the question was a deliberate attempt to shift the conversation. I wasn't in the mood to talk about me. I wasn't even in the mood to think about me anymore.

* * *

><p>We didn't have any success that day shopping for dresses. I knew what I wanted and was yet to find it. I definitely wanted a departure from DX's green. There is only so many times a person can wear fluorescent green before they get sick of it.<p>

"Sunny?"

"Chey?" my bedroom door was pushed open to reveal my half-sister. I patted the bed and she hurried towards me. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"It's a Friday!" she said excitedly. That meant an extra half an hour before she needed to go to bed. "Can you braid my hair?" she asked, turning her back to me.

"Not with this on, I can't. Sorry," I apologised as she faced me again, a sad look on her face.

"I hope you get better soon," she took my arm, kissing the cast. "All better!"

"I wish it worked like that," I sighed sadly. Cheyenne manoeuvred her way under the covers and pushed her way under my arm, snuggling into my side.

"You'll get better and then go back to wrestling and become champion!" she hugged me tightly. I squeezed her back, grateful for her optimism.

"I like the sound of that!" I grinned, "I'll take it from Michelle McCool and-"

"She's so mean! She shouldn't be champion!"

"I know! But she's so strong! She's a bit better than I am so I need to be healthy then train twice as hard!"

"Cody can help! He's good!" she exclaimed, very proud of her idea.

"Yeah," I agreed half-heartedly, "He can help."

* * *

><p><em>Thursday, March 10<em>

I was woken up at two in the morning by my phone. I had put it on vibrate before I fell asleep but had forgotten to move it to the bedside table, thus causing me to be woken by a vibrating bed.

"Hello?" I asked cautiously, keeping my eyes closed.

"Sunday!" I flinched at the high pitch squeal that followed.

"Who is this?"

"It's Barbie! I miss you, babe!" I turned onto my back, pulling the covers up to my neck.

"I miss you," I said back. "Do you know what time it is?"

"It's only early! The night hasn't even started yet!"

"My night ended about 3 hours ago," I told her grumpily. "I was sleeping."

"Oh! I'm sorry! I've had some drinks and I wanted you to be here!"

"I wish I was th-"

"Oh shit!" Barbie swore and I heard a lot of giggling around her. She was clearly sitting outside, away from the music because I could hear her clearly. A male voice joined the fray but I couldn't make out who it was or what he was saying. "I just wanted to speak to Sunday!" Barbie explained but it wasn't to me.

"Give me the phone," my heart dropped when I realised who the male was. "Sunday?"

"Cody." I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the caller ID and sure enough, it did not say _Barbie Blank_ but _Cody Runnels_.

"Sorry," he apologised, the noise behind him getting quieter and quieter. "I went to the bathroom and she had my phone."

"Are you two…?" I trailed off, squeezing my eyes shut tight and clutching the covers tightly.

"No, we're not." His answer was such a relief. "I've gotta go."

"Sure," I sighed sadly. "I miss you."

"Bye, Sun." I bit my lip as he hung up. Of course he didn't miss me.

I put the phone onto the bedside table and cocooned myself, trying to hide away from the world.


	16. Cat out of the Bag

**Following The Main Event;**

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 16: Cat out of the Bag**

_"The thought that comes out is, maybe there's a good reason it's a secret."_ – Ben Rudolph

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><p><em>Friday, March 12<em>

I disappeared into my bedroom, hiding from the kids. I had an important to phone call to make on behalf of Shawn and Bret, probably on behalf of Matt Korklan, too. I found the phone number in my text messages – Nikki had sent it to me.

I sat on my bed, my knees pulled to my chin as I waited for a resonse.

"Hello?" Laura Hart answered hesitantly.

"So nice of you to answer." I said sarcastically, getting ready to tear into her.

"Who is this?"

"Everyone's worried sick, you know that? You mean a lot more to people than you think you do." I told her straight away, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Sunday?" Laura asked in absolutely shock. "Sunday Michaels? Iva Hickenbottom?"

"Yes, you ass clown. Don't call me Iva." I spat at her, hating to hear my real name come from her mouth.

"Why are _you_ calling? And how did you get my number?"

"I'm calling you because no one else can get a hold of you! You're like the Golden child around here! You're dad's about to call the cops and file for missing persons." A slight exaggeration but it was necessary if I wanted to use scare tactics and have her feel genuinely bad for running away.

"Well you got hold of me, he doesn't have to." She sighed at me. It was clear that she was upset about upsetting Bret.

"Laura, people here love you for reasons I don't know. They're worried sick." Time for the exaggeration, or the lying, depending on how you looked at it. I hadn't been around to witness anything first hand but Nikki and Victoria had given be some information about the whole situation. "Did you know that you made Matt _cry_? You made a grown man, a professional wrestler _cry_, they're the toughest guys on this damn earth and you up and left like it was nothing and you made him cry. Nattie's a damn mess, she hasn't stopped worrying. Eve's an emotional wreck and Bret... Don't get me started on Bret." I finally took a breat. "He's interrogated every single person on the roster and accused them of making you leave. He's searched all our hotel rooms for any sign of you. You're going to kill him if you don't come back soon."

"Just tell him that I love him, okay? And that I'll see him at the Hall of Fame ceremony." I huffed at her and made sure it was loud, she had to know what she was doing.

"You aren't waiting that long. This place is a mad house, at least _call him_ and let him know that you're alive so he hears it first hand and doesn't try to kill me when _I_ tell him." Not that I would be the one telling him, but Laura doesn't need to know that.

"Please, Sunday... I just need some time to think," she begged with bated breath.

"If this has anything to do with Matt, I will kill you. You've caused a locker room meltdown over a guy and no one will be happy to hear that. I'm not happy thinking about it." At least I hadn't caused much trouble, I'd been sent home to heal before I could do just that.

"Look, if you do this for me, I'll owe you big time, okay?"

"Do you know what? That's not even enough right now. You're even scaring my dad and I can't take it."

"Sunday, I'll do anything if you just let me sit this out. I'll be back in my own time."

"I'm not happy about it, Laura. I'm really not happy about it." She groaned and I knew she was going to give in.

"Just tell him that I'm safe, okay?"

"Make sure you call me or text me or something every couple of days so I know you haven't died." I paused briefly, ready to end the conversation there but I couldn't resist adding something to the end. "Coz I'd hate to see everyone if that happened."

She hung up without saying anything else and I smirked knowing I'd hit a nerve. I made my way back into the kitchen, sitting on an island stool watching Shawn and Rebecca in the kitchen.

"Who were you on the phone to? Cody?" Rebecca asked hopefully causing my dad to look at me expectantly.

"No, actually. I called Laura."

"And?" Dad asked.

"Well, she's alive. She's sorry and you need to tell Bret that she loves him. I didn't get much out of her other than that. Tried to scare something out of her but it didn't really work."

"Sunday, I told you to be kind about it."

"No one's been kind to me, why should I offer the same courtesy?"

It was true. I had been getting stupid messages about those stupid pictures ever since they got out. Dad knew about them, Rebecca knew about them. It was an unspoken rule in the house that they not be spoken of. If no one mentioned them they would disappear, or at least that was their logic. I was still hell bent on finding out how those photos had gotten out.

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><p><em>Monday, March 15<em>

After much begging and a few tears I had convinced dad that I should be allowed to fly to San Diego with him for Raw. I hated being away from the company as it was but knowing that I would be missing Stone Cold Steve Austin hosting Raw was enough to make me disregard Vince McMahon's rules. All he needed was a quick conversation with Shawn and I was on my way to California.

Dad asked me countless times if I was ready to go back, if I was ready to face everyone. I was ready; I wasn't going to let them mess with my head.

Cameron wasn't allowed to come along – Dad's orders – which meant I was free to enjoy myself without having one eye on him the whole night.

"Sunday!" Barbie's voice called for me only seconds before her body collided with mine and her arms wrapped around me in a tight hug. "That looks nasty," she commented, pointing to my cast.

"Yeah, well, if I don't wear this I won't be wrestling again. Nice to see you, though."

"I've missed you so much! I was just getting used to having you around again and _bam_ you're out the door three seconds later!" Barbie pulled me by the hand down the hall. I was thankful I had decided to wear flats because she runs dangerously fast in her sneakers.

"I'm not having much fun at home. This is the most exciting thing that's happened in two weeks and all we've done is run down a hall."

"You ain't seen nothing, yet! You're coming out tonight! You missed last time and it was so much fun," Barbie beamed. She quickly opened a door and pulled me inside, closing it behind us. "Ladies!"

A chorus of squeals hit my ears and I joined in almost instantly. It was a relief to be welcomed back so warmly.

The Divas had a few minutes of air time that night. Maryse and Kelly were expected to have a match that lasted less than two minutes before Eve, Gail, LayCool and Vickie came out and fought in the ring. Classic Divas' match.

"How hot are those photos of you?" Eve asked genuinely, sitting down on the fold out chair beside me. "_Damn_ girl."

"Thank you." The compliment couldn't be denied. "But the second I find out who leaked those photos someone is going to get hit."

"Wait, you didn't want them to get out?" Eve asked, her eyebrows rising in horror. "Well, _shit_."

"They were for Cody and only for Cody. Someone was fucking around with his phone, found them and... Well."

"Is that why you slept with Kofi?" I got whiplash I turned around to look at Barbie so quickly. "Oh."

"Thanks, B." I mumbled, looking down at my hands as the other Divas were overcome with silence.

"Is that why you and Cody broke up?" Layla asked tentatively and I nodded slowly, not lifting my head. "Oh, sweetheart."

"We're not talking about it, okay? End of conversation."

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><p><strong>an if anyone wants a Christmas one shot... Send me a pairing and a song (Christmas related or not) and I'll see what I can cook up for you :)**


	17. Nightmare Birthday

**a/n thank you to _ItsSimplyNatalie_ for being the cat's meow and reviewing! Here is Sunday's birthday, the end certainly does throw a spanner in the works!**

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 17: Nightmare Birthday**

_"I wish I had known early what I had to learn late." – Richie Ashburn_

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><p><em>Thursday, March 19<em>

Arizona. I have nothing bad at all to say about Arizona. It doesn't hold any bad memories. So that doesn't explain why I felt sick when I got off of the plane in Phoenix.

It might have been because it was the first birthday in years that I wasn't going to spend with Cody. Even before we were officially together I'd celebrated with him.

The girls had promised me a night out and I wasn't going to pass that up. Drown my sorrows and forget that it's actually my birthday. Perfect.

Travelling by myself was terrible, I always felt so lonely. If I hadn't flown to Arizona early I wouldn't have had to worry about it, but the family wasn't flying out until Friday.

I arrived at the hotel by taxi and Victoria was waiting for me downstairs. I was pulled into an instant hug. One thing to be said about the WWE is that all of your friends may as well be family.

"Happy birthday!" she said as she pulled away and helped me with my bags. "We've got tonight all sorted."

"That makes it sound less than easy," I laughed at her. Nikki had told me that the night would be easy and fun, I should have known better.

"Easy? That's not how we do it around here. It's going to be the most fun you've ever had, okay?"

"I'll take your word for it."

After Barbie carelessly revealed that I slept with Kofi I'd been worried about showing my face again but most of the Divas were surprisingly sympathetic. They all acknowledged that it was a dumb thing to do; that I could have handled it _any_ other way, but there was a sense of understanding in my sadness, my desperation.

I wasn't surprised when the other girls were waiting for me in Victoria's room, with their happy birthdays and big smiles.

Unwritten Diva rule #1 states that on your birthday you don't have to lift a finger. Meaning, your hair and makeup will be done and your outfit sorted for you. It felt good, like you had your own personal crew. The best part was it felt just as good to be treated like royalty as it did to treat someone else the same. It was just a whole lot of fun between friends.

"Thanks for this," I smiled at my reflection in the mirror, twisting my body to look at the back of my dress. I hadn't worn it in a long time. "Just wish I could get rid of this." I held up my left arm and Victoria pouted at me.

"You make it look hot. Promise." She winked at me and pulled me into another hug. "We're heading out in about an hour. So that means it's time to pop the champagne!"

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><p>Unwritten Diva rule #2? Champagne is the mandatory first stop for a night out. #3 is dinner must be eaten beforehand. #4 states that everything be left at the dinner table, there can't be any bitchiness or whining going on after the bill has been paid.<p>

We were on step #5 (only the best nightclub will do) and I was already wishing I could go to bed. The girls had gone out of their way to make sure I was never bored but I wasn't interested. The night had started out perfect and I was excited for everything to come but my expectations must have been too high.

"Come on, Sun." Barbie sat down beside me and dropped a phone onto the table. I glanced at it quickly before double taking.

"Is that Cody's?" I asked, watching her snatch it up just as I reached out to touch it.

"Yeah, I took it from him," she unlocked it, getting past the password.

"You know the password?" I asked her in disbelief. She nodded as though it wasn't an uncommon thing to have. "No one knows his password. B, you can tell me if you're with him."

"I'm not!" she laughed at me, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I promise you. I've had his password for ages, anyway."

I stared at her in confusion, watching her go through his phone as if it wasn't a big deal. I looked over my shoulder and saw Cody glaring holes in her back.

She opened up his messages without hesitation and began to read through them. I bit my lip.

"It was you."

"What was me?" Barbie looked at me with an innocent expression but it crumbled as soon as she saw mine. I could get pretty scary when it was necessary. "Oh! Sunday!"

"No, don't act like you don't know," I said through gritted teeth. "You're supposed to be my _friend_! What would possess you to do something like that?"

"Cody," she told me after a second of thought. "You're not the only one who thinks he's perfect."

"You've got to be kidding me. You did this because you were jealous? You ruined a relationship because you were _jealous_?" I asked her. I was practically foaming at the mouth.

"You didn't even love him!" she shouted at me, slamming the phone onto the table. I quickly grabbed it before she could pick it up again.

"No! Don't tell me how I feel!" I yelled at her, following her in standing up. She tried to grab for the phone but I kept it out of her reach. "You are a disgusting excuse for a human!"

"All I wanted to do was break you up. You were supposed to accuse him of sending the photos and I was going to be his shoulder to lean on," she revealed. I hated that we had gathered an audience but I was far too intrigued by her excuses to make then leave. "I had no idea that you were going to fuck his best friend. That was an added bonus."

"But it didn't work! You aren't with him."

"He still loves you, doesn't he?" She said incredulously, throwing her hands in the air. She took a few steps towards me so we were almost nose to nose. Well, chest to chest at least. I still had a good four inches on her. "After you fucked him over he's still in love with your whore ass."

She was goading me. I knew what it was like to be riled up on purpose; she wasn't the first person to try me.

"You think I'm going to hit you so you can run to him and cry wolf? I'm not stupid, B. You aren't the first person to try and tear us apart."

"But I'm the first to succeed, aren't I?"

I glared at her, breathing through my nose as I tried to control my temper. I stepped backwards and walked past a few people before I did something stupid. The last thing I needed to do was injure myself again.

I all but stomped up to Cody who had been watching the confrontation intently; probably ready to stop it if someone threw a punch. I handed him his phone silently and went to turn away but his hand on my wrist wouldn't let me. I still felt the familiar fire from his touch.

"What was that about?" He asked quietly. At least he was concerned.

"You need to change your password and not let her near your phone," I said in one breath. "She sent out the pictures."

"I didn't know, Sun, I'm sorry," he apologised with sad eyes.

I shrugged at him, "What's done is done, right?"


	18. Hall of Fame I

**a/n first things first – I have no idea where I lost the outfits worn by all three girls in this Hall of Fame and in that of 2006 and because polyvore is a guilty pleasure of mine, I have recreated them in full detail (if you go to my profile and click on the _story tumblr _* thestories-ofagirl *, their outfits will be waiting for you!) And, of course, more important is the profuse apology for being terrible at updating. I started writing two new stories that I shouldn't have. Hopefully I will put them up at some point and it will all be worth it!**

**I did want this to be longer, but I also desperately wanted to update. Thank you to _WalkAmongDaylight_ for kicking my ass into gear!**

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 18: Hall of Fame I**

_"We are all pretending. The important thing is to maintain a straight face." – Maurice Valency_

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><p><em>Saturday, March 27<em>

I should have felt better than I did. The Hall of Fame was one of the most important nights in a WWE employee's year, and by far one of the most exciting, yet I couldn't bring myself to care.

There was so much on my mind that I couldn't begin to enjoy myself. I had to get Laura in without everyone noticing – I found an emergency exit during rehearsals. I had to not kill Barbie. I had to sit next to Cody the entire night because we'd sent in our seating preferences before the pictures leaked. Before I slept with his best friend.

Laura was late. It may have only been 5 minutes but she was still late. Dad already thought I was acting weird – I did not need him to see me hovering by a fire exit.

When my phone finally went off, I opened the door roughly, staring at her. I pulled my hand off the door and let her take its weight, walking away from her. The plan was to let her inside without drawing attention; not baby sit her.

"Thank you," I heard faintly as I walked away from her. I wanted nothing more than to just sit down and watch the inductions, to indulge in the nostalgia and forget about my life. Not that that's ever possible when you work with your ex, the woman who broke you up and the man you slept with.

The evening was a big deal for a reason. Cocktails, dinner, ceremony and then more cocktails. Given that only a select few superstars were given the opportunity to be on the Wrestlemania card, a lot of the roster took it as an opportunity to let loose and have fun. I would usually be one of those people to let loose but given the situation I wasn't in the mood for fun.

"Smuggling people in, Michaels?"

"As always, Starr." Keegan Calaway stood beside me, ridiculously tall in her high heels. "You look great."

"So you do," she smiled back. "I've never seen anyone rock a cast so well."

I laughed, lifting up my left arm, "I try, I try."

We stood side by side, watching people greet their friends and dish out compliments about what people were wearing.

"Holy shit, is that _Laura_? She actually showed?" Keegan asked looking totally gobsmacked. I nodded when I saw TJ Wilson leading Laura to Matt Korklan. "She's probably going to cry."

"It's been an intense few weeks, I wouldn't be surprised is Korklan burst into tears, too."

After a small conversation, Keegan disappeared to speak with Serena. I stood out of everyone's way, waving to Shawn and Paul when they caught my eye. Both had spent almost the entire afternoon telling me how gorgeous I looked, Paul said that looking the way I did no one was even going to notice the cast.

Cody was standing not too far away engaged in an intense conversation with Randy and Sam. I found myself smiling just because of how passionate he could become no matter the topic. Wandering eyes drew me down his body, admiring the perfect fit of his suit – something that he no doubt had help with. He was as hopeless at dressing nice as I was at playing video games. I did a double take when I noticed the colour of his tie. Every other couple in the building had, of course, colour coordinated ties to dresses... Cody's matched mine.

I quickly ducked out of sight, going to the bathroom so that I could compose myself. It can't have been on purpose. There was no way that he knew what colour dress I was going to wear. There was no way he would have made an effort to colour coordinate with me. We weren't together.

As I left the bathroom, Laura walked in with tears streaming down her face. Keegan wasn't wrong about the crying, thing. I looked at her quizzically; she sent me a weak but sincere smile.

"Sunday, have you seen my dad?" Laura asked when she came out of the bathroom, looking more put together than when she walked. I scanned the room quickly and pointed to three people – Bret Hart, Adam Copeland and Mark Calaway.

"He's just over there," she sighed.

"My eyesight really _is_ that bad, then. That's bad."

"Yeah, it's really bad." I rolled my eyes at her, crossing my arms over my chest. "Do something about it. You've been complaining that you can't see since I can remember. Now, can you go see Bret and put an end to this childish shit you've been pulling? The world will be a much more peaceful place if you get it done."

"I'm on my way, Iva. I'm on my way."

"Bitch," I muttered under my breath. If I stopped reacted so dramatically to people using my first name they would probably stop. I just _hate it_.

Laura walked away in the direction of her father, slowly and carefully. I watched as she walked right into Keegan and then proceeded to turn around instantly. No way did I want to be part of _that_. Last time the three of us had been together was the 2006 Hall of Fame and we'd gotten into a fight that caused my OVW debut to withhold.

* * *

><p><em>April 1, 2006<em>

_The sight of Laura Hart and Keegan Calaway talking heatedly was enough to draw me to the interaction. I hadn't seen Laura in years – we'd once been good friends but boy how do things change._

_"Whose fault was that? Did my dad _ask_ to be screwed? It's Vince's fault. Vince and Michaels are both to blame. It's none of your fucking business."__ I used it as my opportunity to join the conversation._

_"No, it's not hers. It's mine." __I sneered at Laura__. "You're not welcome here."_

_"I was actually invited, so if you don't mind." I__ crossed my arms and plants my feet firmly on the ground, blocking her path.__ "Really, Sunday."_

_I reminded her coldly, __"__You gave up on this."_

_"And with good reason." __She snapped at me, putting her hand on my shoulder and pushing me out of the way._

_I grabbed her shoulder and turned her back around, wasting no time in slapping her. The pain shot through my palm but I didn't even move to shake it out. She gaped at me, rubbing her reddening cheek. I could hear Keegan behind me, snickering at Laura's reaction. For the first time in a long time, Keegan was shorter than us but it made her no less intimidating. If it weren't for her perpetual fear of being in trouble, she might have been more of a help._

_Laura slapped me back and I shoved her shoulders, sending her back a step. She wasn't fazed, though, and pushed me straight back. I barely lost my footing and came right back and charged at her. A typical cat fight ensued. It was pretty embarrassing given that I had started training at OVW early in the year – I probably could have been able to fight her properly if I changed a few moves and applied them properly. But how is that more fun than hair pulling?_

_"That's enough!" __I froze the second I heard Vince McMahon's booming voice. __"Sunday, go __and find your father." I moved off of Laura, clamouring to my feet and giving my boss a pleading look. "Explain__ to him what happened and that I will be withholding your __OVW__ debut for another month."_

_"Vince! She- what? No!"__ I protested, making numerous hand gestures in a failed attempt to get him to lighten up._

_"Now, Sunday!" __At his order, I squealed, stamped my foot and essentially threw a mini fit as I walked away. People had gathered around us, but I was fuming and they meant nothing to me. I sat down at my table, thankful that Shawn was nowhere to be seen. I had to calm down before I even _thought _about telling him I was in trouble before I'd even had my first match._

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><p><strong>an I wrote a 'What If?' for Laura that you should check out! It's the 2nd chapter of "When You Mess With Fate"!**


	19. Hall of Fame II

**a/n Thanks to _WalkAmongDaylight_ for being precious and reviewing!**

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<br>****By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 19: Hall of Fame II**

_"We are what we pretend to be, but we better be very careful what we pretend." _– Kurt Vonnegut

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><p>It wasn't long before people were asked to be seated for dinner and I slowly made my way to the table. Randy and Sam had already taken their seats. I sat down next to her and listened to her compliment my dress and my hair - I'd had it braided so extravagantly that explaining is impossible - before I reciprocated automatically. It had become robotic very quickly and I'm sure it was the same for every other woman in attendance.<p>

Ted, Kristen and Cody made their way to the table at the same time so I was able to greet the married couple and further distract myself from Cody.

"You look gorgeous, Sunday!"

"You do, too," I smiled back sweetly. "Are you glowing? Is there something you want to tell me?" I asked in a joking manner, adding a wink for good measure. Kristen shook her head and told me, as she had many times before, that they weren't trying for kids.

Ted and Kristen then turned their attention to the Ortons in a not so subtle attempt to force me and Cody into conversation. I sat up a little straighter in my seat and fiddled with the name card.

"You look beautiful, Sun," Cody said after a few moments of silence. "Really beautiful." In any other universe I wouldn't have reacted with such a blush or smile but in this one I was still very much _in love_ with Cody Runnels.

"Thank you," I said shyly, unable to bring myself to look at him. Dumbly, I added, "we, uh... We match."

"Yeah," he said as he inspected his tie. "I asked Victoria to help." My heart fluttered. He had gone out of his way to match my dress. That had to mean he still cared.

I was about to ask him why he would do that but food arrived just as I opened my mouth. I looked down at the chicken and silently cursed it for interrupting.

"Are you ready for tomorrow, Sunday?" Randy' question caught me off guard. I had spent so much time worrying about my own life that I had barely had time to think about Shawn retiring.

"I think so..." I was hesitant in my answer. "Come this time tomorrow I'll probably be a blubbering mess, but."

"Proud blubbering," Randy corrected and I laughed lightly. "It's gonna be great. Match of the year."

The guys all started talking about the Wrestlemania card causing Kristin and Sam to roll their eyes at each other. It wasn't malicious in the slightest, they had smiles on their faces, they were merely joking that it was always about wrestling. I, on the other hand, listened intently. I hadn't been around to hear the rumours backstage so any insight I could get was welcomed.

I tuned out, though, when Cody casually dropped his arm over the back of my chair and leaned slightly over me so that he could hear Randy better. I stopped breathing and turned slightly to my left, looking at Sam in slight horror. She had to cover her mouth to stifle a loud giggle. Everyone looked to her and then, when they noticed she was looking at me, to me. I tried to relax my face, knowing that I looked absolutely ridiculous with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth.

"Sun? You okay?" Cody's hand moved from the back of the seat to my shoulder. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Yeah," I answered shakily. "I just need some fresh air." I pushed out my chair when Cody removed his arm. I picked up my bag before walking away from the table and towards the doors to the courtyard. The air washed over me and I instantly felt better.

I noticed that Keegan was sitting on a chair outside, checking her phone. She looked up briefly before turning back to her phone; I sat down in a seat near her and waited for her to finish whatever it was she was doing.

"Have to keep up with the WWE Universe," she told me once she'd put her phone back in her bag. "I can't believe Mania's tomorrow."

"I can't believe I'm not on the card," I groaned.

"I can't believe I get to be pinned by my step-mum," Keegan countered and I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"You're gonna be back there, right?" I asked quietly, staring off into the distance.

"Of course," Keegan said as she moved into the seat next to me and took my hand in hers. "Nothing could keep me away."

"Good," I paused. "I'm going to need someone to let me cry on them."

It was going to be hard. I knew, deep down, no matter how much I wanted to be wrong, that it was his last match. He was tired and he wanted to see Cameron and Cheyenne grow up. We'd had many discussions where he told me that he wasn't going to be the guy who retired from WWE and then appeared in TNA a month later. He was a WWE man but this was it.

"You just have to promise me that if something goes wrong you're the first person down there. I can't break character."

"Nothing's going wrong," I assured her. "But you know that no one would be able to stop me."

She squeezed my hand, "We've got this company, you know? We're the future. Regardless of our fathers and the expectations... We've got this."

"Yeah," I nodded, a smile growing. "We'll be facing each other at Wrestlemania. Taker versus Michaels Version 2." Keegan laughed at the suggestion, both of us knew that calling it that was an invitation for a riot.

"So, Cody's trying."

"Trying what?" I asked back, narrowing my eyes at her.

"Trying to get you back, to make amends..." Keegan shrugged, "If you ask me, he's forgiven you for fucking Kofi."

"Thanks, Keegs," I sighed. "I'm here because I needed to get away. He's acting like nothing happened."

"Good, go with it."

"I told him I loved him. As he was walking out the door. I don't even know if he heard me."

"Ask him? Sorry," she apologised when I looked at her in horror. "If he didn't love you then he would have gotten his seat moved." I decided that it was time to change the topic, Keegan was fantastic but not on the top of my list of people to talk to.

"You gonna have some fun tonight? Taker's not here, you can get away with it."

She scoffed, "I wish. The moment I so much as look at someone Michelle will have texted him and I'll be getting a call."

I frowned at her, knowing how she felt. It had been much the same when I started in OVW, I was worried that if I got into a relationship then Shawn would find out and put an end to it. When I met Cody, I didn't care what Shawn thought – I was going to go out with him no matter what. Keegan was yet to find that person.

The door opened and Keegan looked over my shoulder, standing up as she did so. The smile on her face as she left caused me to watch her as she left. When I noticed who she was looking at, I sighed lightly. Cody was standing in the doorway, holding it open for her. When she was close enough he greeted her and asked her how her night had been, the conversation lasting less than a minute before she finally went inside.

He walked over to me slowly, sitting down in the seat Keegan had just left. He didn't say anything at first, just looked at me with a small smile on his face. I raised my eyebrow at him, prompting him to say something.

"You okay?"

"Fine, just needed to get out of there for a bit." I was startled when he took hold of my hand. My gaze instantly went to my lap where our hands were joined. "Cody..." I trailed off, unsure of what I wanted to say. "What are you...?"

"I miss you.A lot, Sun. It's driving me crazy."

"After... But I..." I shook my head in disbelief. Hearing him say it was enough to bring tears to my eyes. He didn't let go of my hand. "But _Kofi_. How can you possibly miss me after I did that?"

"We need to talk," he told me quietly. "About everything."

"Yeah," I agreed sadly. "We do."

"Not tonight. There's too many people and tomorrow I have a match."

"I know," I said smiling at the thought. I still had tears in my eyes but knowing that Cody was going to get his Wrestlemania moment made me happy. Cody stood up, his hand still holding mine. He stretched out his other hand and I placed my plastered hand in it, letting him pull me up.

"Can we..." he frowned and let go of my hands, reaching up to wipe the tears that were falling down my cheeks. "For tonight... Can we just be Cody and Sunday?" I nodded and smiled at him. His arms wrapped around me and I fell into his body, wasting no time in wrapping my arms around him.

I didn't want to let go, partially afraid that he was would disappear into thin air if I did, but we had to go back inside. I'd been outside for almost half an hour by that point and they were probably setting up for the actual ceremony. He pulled away, taking hold of my good hand and walking us towards the door.

Cody and Sunday felt normal. Regardless of everything that had happened, it felt like nothing had changed.


	20. Wrestlemania

**a/n: two or three more chapters in this :) when this is finished I will start _Dead Eyes_ which is Keegan's story! Thanks to _WalkAmongDaylight_ for reviewing, sorry for taking like three years to update and that it's so short I wanted to make it longer but I wasn't sure how.**

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><p><strong>Following The Main Event;<strong>

**By AliceJericho**

**Chapter 20: Wrestlemania**

_"A sad ending, albeit a happy one." _ – Murray Walker

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><p><em>Sunday, March 28<em>

I was sitting on an equipment box with Keegan, watching the live feed when someone took hold of my right arm – my good arm – and pulled me off it.

I squeaked at the sudden movement but as soon as I was against their chest I knew who it was. The other body that crashed into my back only solidified it.

"You guys were so great out there," I mumbled against Cody's chest, wrapping my arms around his waist.

I was stuck in the middle of a Legacy sandwich for what felt like hours until Randy joined us and pulled the boys away. I waved delicately at Cody as he looked back over his shoulder. The wink he sent me made me blush profusely.

"So you two sorted everything out last night?" Keegan asked, moving off the box. She was dressed in her ring gear and ready for the ten Diva tag match. Keegan was always the first Diva ready for her match – especially for Wrestlemania. She would rather go out and wrestle with half a face of makeup than miss a match.

"Honestly?" I sighed, shrugging at her. "I don't have a freaking clue. He asked if we could just _be_ for the night and I – of course I agreed... But I thought it was just going to be for the night."

"Well, I guess that's good though right? I mean, he doesn't _hate _you. I said last night that's he's forgiven you."

I closed my eyes and sighed again, "But if we continue like this we're not going to talk about it and if we don't talk about it then it's going to come back and cause troubles." Keegan squeezed my hand sympathetically. I don't blame her for not knowing what to say.

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><p>I said almost nothing the entire match. I didn't cheer for Shawn nor did I boo The Undertaker. I just sat on a chair in front of the television and watched the match unfold in what was surely to be match of the year. I spent much of the match with my elbows on my knees and my folded in front of my face, hunched over and watching intently to be sure that I missed nothing.<p>

It didn't matter that I knew the outcome before the match started, I still cried when the referee counted to 3.

"I need to be out there," I said weakly, watching as my dad dropped to his knees in the centre of the ring to pray. He was thanking God for letting him have such a successful career – I just knew it. I stood up abruptly, "I'm going out there."

Before anyone could stop me, I ran out the door and towards Gorilla. I wiped the tears from my cheek hastily as I got closer.

"Sunday!" Keegan called out to me, hot on my heels. "Vince won't let you out there!"

I shook my head. I didn't care what Vince wanted. I would pay the fine.

Taker was standing at the bottom of the stairs, thanking everyone who was complimenting the match. Confusion flickered across his face as she saw me running towards him, but it turned into a smile when he noticed Keegan behind me. I used the distraction to run up the stairs.

Vince stopped me just before I reached the curtain.

"I need to see him," I cried. I wasn't one to plead, but if it had to be done...

"He's going to be here soon, Sunday."

Tears fell down my face, "He's my dad. I need to be there for him."

"Soon," Vince said, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing. I felt my chest ache and when Vince realised that the tears weren't going to stop he pulled me into a hug. I clung onto my boss' suit jacket and cried.

Vince pulled away after a long moment and turned me around, allowing me to be engulfed by another person.

"He's done, Cody," I gasped. "He's finished."

Cody rubbed my back as I cried into his chest. I knew that I was upset that it was the last time I'd ever see him wrestle but that wasn't the only reason I was crying. I was proud of him. I was proud to be his daughter – no matter how many times we fought I would always be proud to wrestle with the Michaels name.

When Cody let me go I didn't want to pull away but that changed the second I felt my dad's hand on my arm. I unwrapped my arms from Cody and turned around so that I could hold onto my dad. "I don't want you to go."

"Come on, Sun," he laughed lightly in my ear. "You're still my girl."


End file.
